Spinelli Goes Bad
by Arabella Cauwell
Summary: Spinelli gets tired of the gang's comments about her attitude and decides to join a new gang but these guys are nothing like TJ's crew. Will TJ and the gang be able to get Spinelli back? Or will she decide its good to be bad?
1. Chapter 1: The Wrong Side

Spinelli Goes Bad

Disclaimer: I do not own Recess or any character their in. I own nothing recess related although I did attend recess as a child ^^.

_**Chapter 1: The Wrong Side**_

Spinelli had woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. It wasn't very often that she was in a bad mood from the start of the day but it did happen and when it did it was legendary. Last time it had happened she'd found a good outlet in creating a blacktop masterpiece but today was worse than that. Today all she wanted was to hit anything and everything in site.

She shook her fists at passerby's as she shifted her backpack strap to the other side. She was almost glad that today was a school day; otherwise she'd probably have to talk to her parents about feelings and junk. Instead she was looking forward to her friends being able to cheer her up, they were usually good for a laugh or two. Besides at recess she'd get to cream Lawson and his goons, at least if they played a decent sport like football.

Feeling marginally better she entered class and slipped into her chair by the window. Her other friends were settling in. Laughing and talking like usual. Spinelli didn't want to say anything quite yet so she drummed her fingertips against the desk trying to get rid of some of her agitation. It grew more when it seemed that no one in her group had even noticed.

'They're too busy talking about some lousy invention that Gretchen made to worry about me.' She thought glaring in their direction.

Thankfully class started soon after so she was able to ignore them during that time as she doodled angrily in her book.

When the bell for recess rang though Spinelli was the first one of the door. Finally she'd get a little time to blow off some steam. Preferably by hitting people…Lawson or Randall would do just fine.

The air was cool on her face as she walked around looking for a good target. Eventually the rest of the group caught up with her and noticed that she was a bit off,

"Hey Spinelli what's the rush?" TJ asked as he kept up on her right.

Spinelli waved her arm dismissively,

"Looking for a target, I got to tell you Teej today I just cant shake my mood."

"Target? What does that mean?" Gus asked the group.

TJ frowned,

"Nothing good that's for sure. Look Spinelli I know you're in a bad mood and junk but its not right to take it out on another kid."

Spinelli's head snapped in his direction,

"Any kid I pick will deserve it trust me, anyway what exactly is it your trying to say Teej?" she questioned him half glaring.

"I'm just saying that usually when you get like this its pretty bad for passerby's unless you start making a masterpiece or whatever. How 'bout we get you some chalk and you can blow off steam that way huh Spin?" he said patting her arm.

Spinelli pushed his arm off glaring at him,

"I don't feel like it." She said gritting her teeth.

Just then Lawson walked over carrying a kickball and smirking at them,

"Hey fourth graders you playing today or what? Maybe your just scared of my awesomess right?"

Spinelli's eyes flashed dangerously before she launched herself at Lawson,

"Why I oughta-!" she started as she tackled him to the ground and he started screaming.

"Spinelli stop!" TJ called as he, Mickey, and Vince pried her off of him.

Lawson screamed,

"Not again!" before he and his crew ran off.

Spinelli was still struggling to free herself when they disappeared from site,

"Let me go! Let me at 'em!" she said ferociously as she kicked and waved her arms.

"Stop it Spin."

"Yeah Spinelli your acting like a jerk." Vince added in.

Spinelli pushed all three of them back away from her glaring at them,

"You're always calling me that! And your always telling me to stop doing things that I feel like doing!" she said stomping the ground hard.

"But Spinelli I think TJ and Vince were merely pointing out the extremities of your behavior patterns, trying to keep you from doing anything you might regret." Gretchen entered reasonably.

"That's just it I wouldn't have regretted creaming Lawson or anybody I'd have probably felt better that way. You guys are just embarrassed by me is that it?!" she yelled.

"Well I have to admit it is a little embarrassing when you go around pounding guys for no good reason." Gus piped up.

"Yeah Spinelli we are just looking out for you we wouldn't want people misconstruing your spunkiness for bullying." Mickey added trying to be helpful.

"Oh so now I'm a bully am I? I see what's going on here. Fine if I'm such a bad person then obviously you don't want me in the group anymore. Well I don't need you, I don't need any of ya!" she said kicking dust towards them and storming away.

"But Spinelli wait-!" TJ cried as he moved to go after her but Vince blocked his path shaking his head.

"You know the drill Teej she'll blow off some steam and then come back as usual."

TJ frowned,

"I don't know Vince she seemed pretty mad just now and not normal mad but on top of her bad mood bad."

"Nah your just imagining things," Vince said waving his hand, "lets just go play some basketball we have a five man team."

With that he and the others headed towards the basketball court. TJ's eyes followed the direction, which Spinelli had disappeared from,

"I don't know Vince, I don't like this feeling I'm getting. Something tells me this isn't going to be so quickly solved." He said but he too followed after a few seconds.

"Stupid lousy best friends," Spinelli said kicking the big trash can at the back of the school, "embarrassed of me are they well I'll give them something to be embarrassed about!"

Having said that she kicked her boot into the side of the trash can making a little dent,

"Who needs them when they think I'm a bully anyway, ain't they never noticed I don't hit kids littler than me? Guess that doesn't matter much. They're just looking down on me because I'm not a complete goody two shoes like the rest of them. You'd think the prankster prince would be a little understanding about a girls need to punch things but he's just as bad. Ugh I'm so mad right now I could just-"

She let out a loud growl, which sent some nearby third graders running in the opposite direction.

"That's quite a growl you've got there." a voice said from the corner of the building on the other side of the trash can.

Spinelli frowned curiously as she peeked around the corner only to come face to face with Greg Skeens aka Graffiti kid,

"Skeens what are you doing here?"

Skeens backed up from the wall and used his hand to indicate his latest masterpiece. It was vividly colored with the words 'Skeens Rules' painted against the red bricks.

"Isn't it a little obvious that its you who did that if you put your name?" Spinelli asked as she looked it over.

Skeens shrugged,

"Yeah but what's the point of doing something bad if I don't get the credit for it?"

"If you say so," Spinelli said looking at it closer, "you know Skeens your art isn't as bad as I thought it was, from up close it actually looks pretty cool. I mean Finster will have your head but its not like anything else was up on this wall right?"

She had never really had the opportunity to see Skeens graffiti before because she hadn't ever stopped to care. But with her mood as it was and her adrenaline waning away she figured looking at this painting was the only thing to do at the moment.

Skeens looked around as if waiting for some more people to pop up, when they didn't he turned to Spinelli and asked,

"Detweiler send you here on some kooky mission or somethin'?"

Spinelli scowled smacking her fist into the brick wall in front of her,

"Don't. even. mention. him. right. now." she growled causing Skeens to lift an eyebrow.

"You guys get into a fight?"

Spinelli refused to speak for a few seconds as she fought with her temper but finally she came out and told him what had happened.

"Ah," Skeens said knowingly, "so they don't like your tough attitude? I always though that's what they wanted you for you know to be the muscle or somethin'. Otherwise why have you around? Eh, but then again I never got why you were in that group anyway, such wasted talent."

Spinelli's eyebrows raised,

"You think I got talent? At what?"

"Why you're the toughest kid in school. I bet if you even wanted to you could beat up Gelman and Kurst the worst. Not that I'd want you two since them are my friends and all. But you know if you were in my group you'd be able to blow off all the steam you wanted to. I wouldn't be embarrassed or nothin' if you wanted to cream a couple of punks. Plus it might stop some of those rumors I've been hearing lately.

"Rumors? What rumors?"

"Eh nothing with any merit I'd guess but word around the street is that your TJ's girl."

"I'M HIS WHAT?!" she half yelled.

Skeens shrugged,

"I only tell 'em how I hear 'em Spin."

Spinelli looked away from him as she thought. She had to admit that some of the things Skeens was saying made a lot of sense to her. It would be nice to be able to use her strength without people telling her she was a bully or something like that. She'd be able to hit whatever and whomever she wanted without being ganged up by her group about how it was wrong and all. Plus those rumors had to stop and if she started hanging out with a different group of course they would. Besides hadn't he told her that she had talent?

When she stopped to think of it she realized that she had more in common with Skeens then her old friends. Like her he knew some mechanical things, which he learned from family who had gone to jail. Spin's brother Joey had been in jail for a while now. It wasn't something she brought up a lot because her old friends couldn't really relate. None of them had family in the joint. Plus Skeens enjoyed making art, which was something she'd realized she was into last time she was in a bad mood. Like his graffiti, her masterpiece had been washed away. She hadn't really thought too much about it and he didn't seem to mind as many times as his graffiti was covered up, he simply kept on doing it. A girl could respect that kind of perseverance.

When she thought about it she couldn't really figure out how she and TJ's group had gotten along. They were all so different from her. TJ had played on those skills to conduct elaborate plans. She wondered if they'd get along in a car together when all they could do was talk the whole way. Spinelli was pretty sure she could get along with Skeens in the car though. He understood her better than the others. Skeens would never call her a bully or a jerk.

It was then that Spinelli looked up at him,

"You know what I think I will try your group for a while but if I don't like it I'm leaving."

"Fair enough," said Skeens, "being bad isn't just a job it's an art. Besides when your bad you do things the way you want them to be done, you don't answer what you don't want to, you don't do what you don't want to."

Spinelli's lips twitched a little into a smirk,

"Being bad is sounding better and better."

Skeens waved her over to him,

"Come on then Spinelli I think it's high time you were introduced to the others."

Spinelli pulled down her ski cap to a better position on her head and then nodded with a look of fiery determination,

"Bring 'em on Skeens."


	2. Chapter 2: TJ's Worry

Chapter 2: TJ's Worry

TJ was very worried when Spinelli didn't come back to class after the end of recess bell rang. Sure she was in a bad mood and all but he could never remember a time when she didn't at least come to class to pointedly ignore the group at least. He let out a sigh as he looked out the window willing her to come back in. He was afraid that she was going to be found out and get into big trouble or something. Plus it was just unnerving having a member of his group missing, what if something happened to her? TJ nearly growled in frustration as he took off his cap so that he could have easier access to his hair. He scratched it as he replayed their latest fight in his head and then started to pull at it as he looked up at the clock wondering why school was taking so long to be over.

TJ was nearly ready to distract Miss Grotke and wind the clock forward himself but as he looked around at his group he realized that it wasn't going to work. That was because everyone seemed to be quite preoccupied.

Gretchen was engrossed in the lesson as usual except for the fact that she kept biting her lip, showing TJ that she was trying very hard not to think about Spinelli's disappearance. Vince had his head on his desk and was staring at Spinelli's empty seat while tapping his foot on the floor as quickly as a rabbit. Mikey was holding on to the eraser that Spinelli had let him borrow yesterday and looked about ready to cry. And Gus was nearly curled up in a ball in his seat.

None of them was in a state of mind to pull of any mission at the moment, not unless it had something to do with bringing Spinelli back into the class or helping her out.

As a leader TJ knew his gang best. Right now he was just going to have to let it go. It was best not to get the whole group in trouble for one member, even if that member was Spinelli.

'I just hope she doesn't get into too much trouble and that she gets over this bad mood as quickly as possible for all our sakes.' TJ thought, and with that he tried his best to forget about Spinelli for now, but even as he tried he could have sworn that he saw an orange ski cap flit right across the window.


	3. Chapter 3: Initiation

Chapter 3: Initiation

"Aye Skeens what's with the chick?" Mundy asked as he and the other three members of the group who had been waiting for Skeens return stared at Spinelli.

Spinelli's nostrils flared at being called a chick. She kept her eyes locked on Mundy's as she lifted her fist and cracked her knuckles. Then she rolled her right shoulder back and cricked her neck. She wanted her body to be lose in case she had to give this Mundy kid a piece of her mind again,

"Call me a chick again and you'll be getting a knuckle sandwich for desert."

Skeens grinned as Mundy huffed and crossed his arms,

"As if I'm afraid of a do gooder."

Skeens leaned against the wall and crossed his arms in a resting position,

" I wouldn't say that if I were you Mundy, in fact you ought to greet Spinelli properly since she's the newest member of our gang."

Sue Bob Murphy let out a short gasp as the others blinked and quickly locking eyes on Spinelli again looking for a trick. Lazy Kid, however, only was able to keep this up before yawning and sliding down on his part of the wall, before falling fast asleep. Spinelli's eyebrow rose as she looked at Skeens questioningly. Skeens shrugged in response and said,

"Eh you get use to it."

Mundy however was not prepared to let this situation go without a discussion,

"Skeens you've lost it she's obviously a spy for that Detweiler kid. Why would she join our group when she's already in one? It can't be true. I say we rough her up and send her back to Detweiler with a message, Kurst-"

Kurst the Worst stood up straight and started to stomp towards Spinelli. Spinelli wasn't fazed, she had spent most of her life fighting and beating people ten times her own size, and that was when she was holding back. Now without TJ and the gang calling her names and staring at her with those disapproving eyes, she found herself feeling a bit more free with her fists. Skeens merely shrugged and smirked. He was practically telling her it was okay. And so Spinelli cracked her knuckles and punched Kurst the worst straight under the chin. While the bigger girl was distracted Spinelli stomped her big boot on Kursts foot and then gave her a kick for good measure. She watched as Kurst feel backwards with a quick thud and wide eyes.

Spinelli stood over the girl with a triumphant grin. She had done it and no one had told her she was being a jerk because of it. It was actually pretty freeing. She turned to look at the rest of Skeens group who were gaping at her in amazement.

"I guess you know best Skeens, she ain't no do gooder anymore that's for sure." Mundy said looking back at the damage.

"Yep she's tired of being Detweiler's dog. Instead she's going to be our queen." Skeens said as Spinelli pulled out her pig tails and let her hair hang down behind her ear.

"All hail the queen." Mundy said quietly.

Spinelli felt the adrenaline rushing through her veins and smirked at the group,

"It's good to be bad." She said.


	4. Chapter 4: Rising Worry

Chapter 4: Rising Worry

If TJ had any power over the adult world he would have hired a detective to find his spunky friend Spinelli. He had been a bit worried before but now he was beginning to let his imagination get away from him. On the way home from school he had imagined about 23 different scenarios of what had happened including a kidnapping, an alien abduction, and a recruitment from the US government to be the country's secret weapon.

Those were the only explanations that were making sense to him after not seeing her again for the whole day. He was glad that she lived so close to him because he'd be able to walk over there after he did his chores, ate dinner, and played a game with his family. He'd have gone straight there after school if his mom hadn't made him promise to head straight home afterwards. As it was he was in a daze all through his chores, homework, dinner, and even the game. He was finally allowed out at 9:00 for a little while but his mom expected him to be back by 9:30. He figured that would be enough time to at least have a talk with Spinelli.

TJ found himself in front of Spinelli's house quicker than usual. As soon as he knocked on the door Bob Spinelli practically yanked it open,

"Pumpkin we were so worried about you but were glad that you've-" Bob blinked as he realized that it was TJ at the door and not his little Pumpkin, "oh TJ hey there what can I do for you?"

TJ frowned a second before shaking his head to clear it of any bad thoughts,

"Hey Mr. Spinelli I was just wondering if you could let me talk to Spinelli for a little while, promise to leave straight after if you'll let me I know its pretty late."

Bob blinked at him as his grip tightened on the door frame,

"Actually we had thought she was with you and the rest of your group caught up some shenanigans or other but if you're here I can't see why she would be so late. Do you have any idea where she might be?"

TJ looked off to the side as he put his hands in his pockets. Now he was really worried. Spinelli wouldn't run off because of a little fight they had would she? He stood on her porch trying to think as he said dejectedly,

"Sorry Sir I'm not sure where she could be right now, she wasn't her usual self today."

Bob looked down at the boy curiously,

"Oh what makes you say that?"

Just as TJ was about to explain what had happened he heard the distinct sound of boots behind him and quickly turned around, but when he did he noticed something about her that was different. It was not a drastic difference that could be seen too much on the outside, except for the fact that she had let her hair down. It was more in her eyes. She seemed to be looking straight through him, cold and detached from him. Her feet stomped into the ground hard in a power walk as she avoided his eyes and walked straight passed him to the door.

"Pookie your home! I'm so glad to see your alright," Bob said before heading back into the house calling, "Hey Flo its okay she's home."

TJ was still feeling that same feeling as when this argument had happened. It was different from that other time and he was very nervous about what was going on with Spinelli. He wondered what was going through her mind,

"Hey Spinelli," he called to her retreating back, "can we talk for a bit I've got to go home soon but I wanted to make sure you were okay after the fight and all. You know the gang and I were pretty worried about you when you didn't come back from recess, what were you doing anyway?"

Spinelli stopped her movement upon hearing her name, by then she was inside the house but she had not closed the door yet,

"I don't have time to talk to you or the gang. Tell them not to worry Spinelli wont be embarrassing them anymore."

And with that she hooked the side of the door with her foot and slammed it shut in his face.

TJ's eyes widened as he started to feel a bit panicky. He knocked hard on the door feeling like something was slipping away fast, "Spinelli what happened today? Why didn't you come back? What's going on with you?! Spinelli open up the door!"

There was no answer from the other end but TJ could have sworn he could still feel her presents at the other end for a few moments. But then that feeling started slipping away and TJ banged harder against the door trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach,

"Spinelli! SPINELLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He yelled it loud enough for the entire neighborhood to here. But there was no answer to his call.


	5. Chapter 5: Her Own Kind

Chapter 5: Her Own Kind

Spinelli let out a long sigh as her head hit the pillow on her bed. It had been a long and somewhat emotional day for the girl. So many changes had happened so quickly and all because of a bad day.

Realizing quickly that she wasn't going to be getting to bed too quickly because of all of the thoughts swimming around in her head Spinelli opened her bedroom window and leaned her arms against it. She looked down only to see the spot that she'd walked past TJ at. She'd heard him yelling for her but she had decided to ignore it.

The truth was, though she still liked the members of her old gang, she just couldn't see continuing being one of them. After having a full conversation with Skeens she was able to see how different she was from TJ and the rest of the guys. In fact, she couldn't figure out how she had ever managed to be one of them. But that was probably because of TJ, they had been friends first and then the others had just happened along. But even TJ seemed distanced from her now.

When she had seen him he had looked concerned for her and Spinelli couldn't bare to look him in the eyes. That was because she had come to the conclusion that TJ was just too nice of a guy to kick her out of the group. She figured that in reality no one wanted her around in the old group. That had been solidified when they hadn't run after her with a harebrained scheme to get her back when she didn't return to class. Normally the group would stalk her down and drag her back if she had decided to skip a class or something.

That had shown her that she obviously had misconstrued the whole friendship. Maybe they were too nice to point out that she was bad or maybe they were too afraid of what she might do or say to them if they tried to kick her out. Well whatever the case Ashley Spinelli was not one to stay where she was not wanted. She'd save them the trouble of trying to kick her out in the future.

The disbandment of Team Detweiler was something Spinelli figured was inevitable anyway. She had done some serious thinking today and had come to this conclusion after much consideration. All of her friends were so different that they couldn't possibly stay together once High School arrived. She'd even pictured it happening. TJ would run for class or school president and later on turn into the President of the United States, Gretchen would abandon her unintelligent friends for people with her same intelligence level and go on to invent the cure for cancer, Vince would play ball in school and then win a scholarship from a college and go on to play in the pros, Mikey would get into acting and choir and English and then win some award to do one of the three things he liked, and Gus would bulk up and join the military. As for Spinelli she'd end up with the same kind of crowd she was joining now.

Yep, Spinelli figured that since it was inevitable anyway it would be smarter for her to just get to it now instead of getting even more attached. She needed to be in a group in which she belonged. She liked her old group and she would sure miss them, but she had Middle School and High School to think about. It would be best to build up her reputation a lot more so that people would fear the name Spinelli. Then when she was in the older grades she'd be legendary for it and have less people trying to get to her. It was a harsh world out there but she was a tough girl. She'd just have to deal with that.

She would be with her own kind of people now. People who didn't look down on her for being who she was. People who knew what it was like to have a family member in jail. People who respected her for her strength. Yeah those were the kind of people she was meant to be with. People like herself.

Having thought that Spinelli got her stuff ready for school, tomorrow she would have to stop by the store before she arrived but since she was a rebel now it didn't matter that she'd show up late to class, there were a few things she had to take care of outfit wise first.

When she was done she climbed into bed and under the covers mumbling about how she was free now to do what she wanted and how she was finally with people who could understand her. But even as she tried to convince herself of this as she fell asleep, she couldn't help but hear TJ's strained voice calling out to her in her dreamlike state,

"Spinelli."


	6. Chapter 6: Bad Spinelli's Class Debut

Chapter 6: Bad Spinelli's Classroom Debut

"I'm telling you guys something is not right." TJ announced to the group as they crowded around his desk the next morning.

The gang had decided that TJ had been driven temporarily insane from a lack of his Spunky but lovable best friend Spinelli. He had actually arrived to class early and told them all what he'd experienced last night.

Gretchen was under the impression that he had been suffering from a mild hallucination at the time. Vince was leaning towards TJ having a nightmare. Mikey went on and on about how 99% of fights were caused by misunderstandings, and Gus pointed out that from Spinelli's behavior she must be being controlled by aliens. TJ found none of this helpful to the current situations.

"Alright guys its pretty obvious that you all think I'm going crazy but I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard, and something big is definitely going on with Spinelli. I can't tell what is going on exactly but I know whatever it is its not good. She didn't get home until like 9:15, which means she was walking the streets at night! What if she had been robbed or kidnapped?! WHY DOES NO ONE UNDERSTAND THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS SITUATION!" TJ said slamming his hands on his desk and startling the other members of the group into jumping.

"TJ," Gretchen said delicately as she put her hand on his arm and patted it like one might a startled animal, "we understand that you are concerned about Spinelli but we think that your blowing the situation out of proportion. This isn't the first time we've encountered one of Spinelli's mood swings before. I'm sure all of your worrying is for nothing. Even if she said something oddly yesterday that doesn't mean that she'll feel the same way today."

"Gretch is right Teej I'm sure there's nothing to be nervous about. It's not like one little fight is going to change Spinelli so drastically. It wasn't even a big fight at that." Vince added as the first bell rang and he slipped gracefully into his seat.

TJ glanced down at his notebook trying to believe what the group was telling him, but he knew Spinelli better than any of the rest of them. Didn't that mean that his worry had more basis than their nonchalance? Still, when one is up against many sometimes the crowd can sway the one person into believing. But as TJ noticed how tense the rest of the group was he got the feeling that a lot of their talk was just that. They were nervous too. Solemnly, TJ took off his hat and stuffed it into his bag. He was not in the mood to wear at the moment. It only served to remind him of the red ribbons that Spinelli hadn't been wearing when he had seen her the day before.

He frowned further as a half hour had gone by and Spinelli still hadn't shown. He wasn't sure what was going on in her head anymore. Would she even come? Was he overreacting? Would Spinelli be back to her old self the next time he saw her or would she avoid his gaze again? Would she-

But just as these thoughts buzzed through his head they were cut off by the classroom door opening, and by the sound of boots stomping on the floor. TJ looked up quickly a smile starting at the corners of his mouth at the familiar sound, but by the time he reached the figure the smile had disappeared, and the other members of the class had gasped in unison.

Before them stood Ashley Spinelli looking like none of them had ever seen her before. There were a few familiar things such as her leather jacket, overly large red t-shirt, and her boots. But there were quite more additions than subtractions. The nose ring for example hadn't been there yesterday, nor the chain hanging under her jacket, or wicked looking belt around her waist. Her hair was down as it had been last night and her expression was one of fire and ice as she stomped to her seat, not bothering to hand in a late pass, explain herself, or even say good morning to anyone.

Spinelli looked around as if daring for someone to say something to her. Most of the class shrunk back and away from this wilder looking Spinelli. There might have been whispers around the class if any of the more gossipy kids had the nerve to speak, but none seemed to. The silence was an eerie one that even Mrs. Grotke seemed to be having a hard time dealing with,

"Although I am quite fine with any needs you might have for freedom of expression I do expect for all of my students to arrive on time for school so unless there are circumstances that you would like to explain to me after class I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a tardy in the grade book."

Spinelli ignored her as she pulled out a piece of gum, stuck it in her mouth, began to chew, and than answered Miss Grotke with a resounding pop. The class gasped again at the audacity of ignoring the teacher and chewing gum so blatantly in front of her. They all turned back to see what the teacher would do, except TJ who was looking at Spinelli with a horrified expression. A stunned Miss Grotke cleared her throat before saying,

"I hate to have to do this Miss Spinelli but you give me no choice, go stand in the hallway until I tell you that you can come back in."

Spinelli got up slowly and flipped her desk over on to the floor as she walked towards the door,

"Who'd want to be in this crummy classroom anyway, I'm out."

The class was so nervous that she was going to completely lose it that they all practically held their breath until they heard her boots stomping down the hallway. Miss Grotke turned to TJ flabbergasted. No one had ever seen Spinelli like this before.

TJ was trying his best not to follow her and shake her to her senses, but he was in the middle of class, and he was not sure how much more of that kind of behavior Miss Grotke could handle. He turned to look at the rest of the gang who was stunned, but at least now they believed him, which was at least something. Vince turned to look at TJ before asking,

"So what are we gonna do about this one Teej?"

TJ shook his head at the question as he scratched his head trying to concentrate,

"I don't know at the moment Vince, I just don't know. The only thing I know right now is that in order to fix the problem we first have to find out what it is, or at least what she's up to."

Gretchen took out her Galileo,

"That we just might be able to do." She said, and TJ looked at the mini computer hopefully.


	7. Chapter 7: Spin

Chapter 7: Spin

Spinelli was pretty sure that she had gotten off to a decent start concerning this bad girl thing she had going for her, but she had to admit it was pretty boring being outside when everybody else was still inside. There wasn't even any one from her new group there at the moment.

She let out a sigh as she tried to figure out what she could do to keep herself occupied until recess. She picked up a rock and casually tossed it at the wall behind her watching as it bounced back and hit her on the leg. Her right eyebrow rose, and she snorted, thinking about how Mikey would have probably said something about how symbolic that occurrence had been. Probably something like whatever you do to someone else was likely to come back to you or something.

Spinelli shook her head trying to forget about her old gang but she found it to be a nearly impossible task. She'd didn't beat herself up over it though. She realized that after spending years with one group she was likely to still be attached for a while. To think about them and remember things. It was okay to do that as long as she didn't allow herself to get roped back in by them. Though for some reason every time she thought about TJ she began to have second thoughts.

She shook her head trying to clear it when she spotted a shadow across the ground and looked up. Skeens stood across from her with his arms folded as he leaned casually against the wall,

"I like the new look, where'd you get the piercings?" he commented pointing not only to the nose ring but also to the studs that the others hadn't seen behind her hair.

Spinelli smirked slightly as she pulled off her nose ring to show him the magnet on the other side,

"Their magnetic. My parents wouldn't let me get them and you have to be at least 16 to get your own." She commented.

Skeens shook his head,

"Yeah and they can be a pain to do 'em yourself. Yours should be fine as long as a lot of people don't find out your secret. Just don't let them know their fake. Still, you made some nice touches, your sure getting the hang of this pretty quick."

Spinelli nodded as she purposefully cracked her wrist,

"Yeah its no big deal a lot of this stuff is pretty obvious ya know?"

"Mmmmhmm."

Skeens moved over towards the wall and slid down so that he was seated with his back against it. Spinelli, not having anything to do anyway, followed his example and looked up at the sky as she asked,

"So what'd you get kicked out for?"

Skeens let out an amused airy sounding snort at that as he turned to look at her,

"I didn't get kicked out today I just decided not to go. It's one of the perks of being bad Spinelli you can do whatever you want to do. No rules, regulations, or cares. We just run on basic instincts." He commented as her rested his hands behind his head.  
Spinelli nodded absentmindedly as she leaned her head back against the wall. Though Skeens made this kind of life sound really good she couldn't help but be feeling a bit uncomfortable. Still, she recognized that she wasn't going to adjust that easily to this completely different lifestyle, even if she was a natural. She had been doing the opposite for so long that of course it would feel weird to be bad at first. She'd obviously feel much happier once she got adjusted to it. After all this is what she wanted right?

Spinelli let out a little sigh to herself as she scratched her head and tried not to think about the situation to closely. She knew she should be focusing on the good aspects of this whole thing and how no one would be looking down on her now. She also should have been putting her mind to a way to become even badder. After all now that she had the chance to be the best at something, and be the leader rather than a follow or a loner she should take it right? Yeah that's how she'd get things done.

"So I heard how you got out of your class anyway. Nice job Spin." Skeens said with a nod of his head.

Spinelli blinked at him. It was the second time that he had called her that name, Spin, the name that only TJ had ever dared call her before this guy came along. When he'd said it Spinelli could have sworn she saw TJ's face before her, telling her that, but when she had blinked the vision had disappeared, like an image in a dream. She wondered why it only bothered her now that Skeens used it again. The first time she'd been too preoccupied she supposed, it was practically like he didn't say it. But now…now it was different. It was a stupid thing for her to get angry over and she knew that she wouldn't be able to explain it to the guy if she attacked him. Skeens would demand a reason and Spinelli didn't have one for him. So instead of choking him until he took it back Spinelli merely turned her head away from him and stared at the ground,

"Yeah real nice."


	8. Chapter 8: Rebellious Phase

Chapter 8: Rebellious Phase

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN A REBELLIOUS PHASE?! SHE'S TEN YEARS OLD NOT THIRTEEN OR NOTHIN'! YOU ARE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE YOU STUPID MACHIENE!" TJ yelled as he shook Gretchens famous Galileo computer as if were human and he was choking it.

Gretchen stood there looking horrified at his treatment towards her most prized possession as Vince and Mikey tried to pry the thing out of his hands. Vince finally managed it after a few minutes and handed it over to Gretchen where Galileo said,

"I'm sorry TJ but that is the only answer that I have based on the estimated calculations. Anyway this would not be the first time that Spinelli has matured, or shown teenage like behavior. It is definitely not far from the realm of possibility then that she is entering a rebellious stage and it will pass over with time and support most likely."

"TIME?!" TJ yelled as he tried to free himself from Vince and Mikey's grasp, "WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO SIT AROUND AND HOPE THAT SHE COMES BACK! WHAT IF IT'S TOO LATE BY THEN?! WE HAVE TO GET HER BACK NOW SO DON'T JUST STAY THERE ACTING LIKE A HUNK OF METAL GIVE US A CURE FOR THIS REBELLIOUS SICKNESS THAT'S TRAPPED MY BEST FRIEND ALREADY!"

"I've never seen him quite like this," Gretchen observed and whispered quietly, "its as if he has completely lost his reasoning skills and has reverted to some form of caveman like animalistic instincts. It's quite fascinating."

"He's scary too!" Gus called as he hid behind Gretchen.

Hearing this Mikey let go of TJ and waved his hands dramatically in the air,

"OH WHY CRUEL WORLD OH WHY?! ANOTHER FRIEND SLAIN BY THE CRUELTIES OF PRE-PUBESCENCE! WILL THIS MADNESS NEVER CEASE?! WHY WORLD?! WHY IS SUCH INJUSTICE TOLERATED?!"

"It really freaks me out when he's like this." Vince told Gretchen, both seeming to be the only rational ones at the moment.

Gretchen cleared her throat to gain everyone attention and then said,

"Panicking in the middle of the hallway is not about to do us any good. If we really want Spinelli back everyone is going to have to calm down so that we can think of an effective plan. TJ you of all people have to snap out of it. As our leader you're the one who is good at coming up with ideas."

TJ let out a long sigh trying to rid himself of the panic and anger that he was feeling. Sometimes it was hard to be the leader because he had to think level headedly. It wouldn't do any good for him to get too crazy over the situation. Leaders weren't supposed to show weakness and him panicking wasn't about to get him Spinelli back. He squared his shoulders, took his had out of his backpack, and turned the cap backwards on his head.

"Alright guys before I can think of a plan we have to figure out if Spinelli's working with another group or going solo on the bad girl thing. Something tells me though that this isn't the kind of thing that she'd think up to do on her own. So at Recess we go and find her, see what she's up to, and then we can form a plan."

The others, glad to see the old TJ back at least cheered at that as they headed back into their classroom.

"We're going to get Spinelli back if it's the last thing we do." TJ said as he went to sit down.


	9. Chapter 9: Skeens Masterpiece

Chapter 9: Skeens Masterpiece

"We gotta do something big, and we gotta think of it soon, since this is your debut and everything kid." Mundy said to Spinelli fifteen minutes before recess was supposed to begin.

Spinelli nodded, clenching and unclenching her fist,

"Yeah but what?"

"I still say we just wing it like we always do, these things tend to work themselves out. See a kid, trip the kid, end of story." Sue Bob Murphy put in.

"That's fine for any everyday kind of thing but for an intro I think not?" Mundy argued.

Skeens looked up at the sky before turning to the others and saying,

"Normally it would be fine to get a reputation little by little Sue Bob but in Spinelli's case she'll need something big in order to be believable. She was in Detweilers group for a long time, plenty of people will think that it's just a phase or because of a fight or whatever. So we've got to prove that she's really bad."

"How are we going to do that?" Sue Bob Murphy asked.

Spinelli looked up at the sky trying not to pay close attention. The way Skeens was talking Spinelli was a little nervous of what she'd be asked to do exactly. Her conscience prickled just imagining some of the things that she might be asked to do. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to do anything to bad quite yet. She'd be okay with telling off a few teachers or skipping classes but she wasn't sure how far she was willing to go to be bad. Perhaps Skeens picked up on these feeling because before she knew it one arm was drooped over her shoulder and he was saying,

"Nothing to bad there Spinelli I know you're a beginner don't worry, we'll work our way up if we can, but you will have to do something rather large scale to begin with, or else your reputation will stay the way it is."

He leaned forward so that his mouth was a centimeter from her ear,

"Is that who you want to be? Detweiler's lap dog?"

Spinelli ground her teeth together before grabbing his right arm and yanking it towards her hoping for him to stumble a bit. She pulled the arm behind his back and used her other arm to press his face against the wall that they were next to,

"Don't mess with me Skeens I'm warning you now. I will hurt you if I have to."

Skeens smirked as Spinelli let him go. He turned around and leaned forward, moving towards her as she had turned to walk away,

"That's much better isn't it? Do you feel the rage rising? Use it Spinelli, it's a beautiful thing your anger."

Spinelli sent him a warning flash of her eyes as she started to walk away,

"Don't worry about my introduction to the school. I'll handle that myself. You all just start worrying about your ownselves. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you enlightened me about my situation. If I'm going to be bad then I'm going to be the best at it."

She turned around with a somewhat manic grin,

"I may hang around you guys sometimes but don't think that means your safe from harm. I will hurt anyone who bothers me, friend or foe." She said as she headed on to the playground.

She had a rough idea of how she was going to introduce her new self to everybody, and she needed to be in the center of things so to speak, in order to be ready for it.

The others watched her with wide eyes.

"I never thought she could be that bad." Mundy said in practically a whisper.

Some of the others looked fearful but Skeens was watching her leave with a look of awe on his face,

"Her rage is so beautiful. I think I've created a masterpiece, I need to portray this through art."

And with that the graffiti kid set about making a portrait of Spinelli, as the queen of the rebels.


	10. Chapter 10: Queen of the Rebels

(Hello All Sorry this took so long but my computer went down and I had to restart the whole system, I haven't even gotten Microsoft Word back but I thought I'd try word pad to see if it would work and convert it properly. :) Luckily, since your reading this it means it has and so here goes with the latest chapter :) )

10

As soon as the recess bell rang, TJ and the rest of the gang, found themselves rushing quick enough to be the first ones out of the room. Everyone of them was anxious to find and stop Spinelli from doing something that she would surely regret. TJ, slightly more under control, was at the front of the group as they stepped on to the blacktop and looked around. Then he turned to look at the group to give them their orders,

"Okay we're going to need to cover a lot of ground in a little amount of time so we'll have to split up. We're going to be asking a lot of kids where she is so try to keep your questions short and simple, and don't stand around talking junk or nothin'. If you find her grab the loud speaker from Miss Finster if you can and call the rest of us over. Everyone got it?" he asked looking around.

The rest of the gang nodded.

"Good. If worse comes to worse and no one finds her in the first fifteen minutes of recess meet back here so we can regroup. Alright on your mark, get set, go."

With those words the group broke up and headed in all different directions, moving as quickly as each person could go. Vince was of course the quickest, and in a couple of seconds you couldn't even see him.

TJ himself had started off at a fast pace, but had begun to slow down as he decided for him it might be best to think over the situation a bit more, after all he figured that he knew Spinelli best. He sat down on a swing next to swinger girl, who had not seen Spinelli, and really thought about what the Spinelli he knew might do if she wanted to portray that she was bad.

The problem he found himself with was the fact that he never thought that it would ever get this bad. He never thought that anyone would ever leave his group, least of all Spinelli. Sure other people had been skeptical of her, especially the first time that they found out that Spinelli's older brother Joey went to jail, but TJ never had. He was one of the very few people who had met Joey, and though Spinelli shared her brothers love of mechanics, his shoes, and sense of fashion, she was otherwise nothing like him.

Her brother had a tendency to follow the crowd, but Spinelli was usually her own kind of girl. TJ and anyone who really knew her knew that though it seemed sometimes like Spinelli was his lacky, she truly only followed his directions because she wanted to. No one made Spinelli do anything that she didn't want to do...or so it used to be.

TJ's mind ran through lists of possible reasons that she would do something like this but kept coming up blank. He was upset that she was throwing him for a loop. Everything had been fine the other day. It wasn't like Spinelli getting into bad moods was something new. It happened quite a bit actually, but usually she got over it by breaking things or one time by creating a blacktop masterpiece with chalk.

He wondered what was so different about this time. How had she ended up like this? Something had to push her in this direction. But what?

Just as he was about to switch his thoughts back to figuring out what she would do or where she would be in order to gain a new repuation, he looked around to notice that the kids of the playground seemed to have gone crazy. He blinked wondering how he had managed to daze off so badly that he didn't notice kids running and screaming, including his own gang who was currently heading straight for him.

Rising from his seat on the swing TJ whispered to himself,

"What in the playground is happening?"

But before Gretchen could make a diagram, or Vince list Playground Rule number 308, TJ found his answer. Because lo and behold, sitting directly on the throne that once sat the great King Bob, was one Ashley Spinelli.

In shock, TJ looked around for King Bob and the other sixth graders that usually accompanied him. He found them a few minutes later tied up to the base of Big Rusty. All of those who were related to King Bob's rule directly were there, including the king himself in cape and all, and tied with jump ropes no less. The younger kids had panicked over this and the older kids watched Spinelli lounge across the chair, one booted foot on the ground and the other sprawled over the right arm of the chair.

Then the entire playground fell silent as Spinelli lifted her hand into the air, most in fear of what she'd do to them next if they disobeyed her. And just as TJ was going to walk straight pass the rest of his group who had just caught up with him, in order to try to convince Spinelli that she had lost it (and then convince King Bob not to try to punish her), he stopped in his tracks. Because Skeens had made his way up the jungle gym with King Bob's crown in hand, and stood right next to her. Then he yelled,

"Kids of the playground I give to you your new ruler. I am proud to present the new and improved Spinelli, Queen of the Rebels, and everyone else on this playground."

Skeens placed the crown helmet on Spinelli's head tilting it a pinch to the side for the added affect, and TJ Detweiler's hands curled into fists. Then before he even knew what he was doing his feet led him to the place that he needed to be at the moment, and so he found himself face to face with the center of the problem in his own opinion. Greg Skeens.


	11. Chapter 11:The Responsibility

11

Picking out the biggest way of getting attention as a "bad girl" so to speak was a very easy task. The thing was no matter how annoyed she was with the "other bad kids" or how nervous she was feeling, it was obvious what would have the most effect. Everyone with any sense at all knows that if you take down the person with the most power you get the most attention, and taking into account the sixth graders long standing tyranny over every other grade under them, it didn't exactly take a Gretchen to figure it out. Not to mention the fact that King Bob's thrown happened to be literally in the middle of things at the playground, and a place that would get a lot of attention. So for all of those reasons and more, Spinelli got to work.

Normally, Spinelli allowed herself to be dragged away by a couple of the sixth grade boys so that she wouldn't have to hurt anybody or show just how strong she was and scare or embarass them. But since she was a "bad girl" now none of that really matter, though just in case she took them two by two, the initial two guards always with King Bob, and his backup, which was basically the entire sixth grade class.

King Bob was the last one she tied up with the jump ropes that she "stole" from Finster, and of course he had something to say about this whole situation even as she was tying him up,

"I realize that I'm not exactly the most informed kid on the playground but last time I had Jerome inform me, you were one of that crazy monkey boy's people, and this isn't his usual style. Does Detweiler know about this?"

Spinelli tightened the jump rope roughly at the mention of TJ. She didn't want to be thinking about him at the moment. Whenever she thought of him she began to second guess her decision. She really didn't need that after she had reached this point.

"Zip it Bob or I'll zip it for you. Teej-jay aint got nothing to do with this, it's my own thing."

King Bob shook his head,

"Oh I see, your doing this because you broke up with Detweiler? I still think it's extreme, you shouldn't involve your king in such trivial matters."

Spinelli slapped his shoulder to get him to shut up as she said,

"Whatever yer implyin' your wrong, and it aint your business anyway."

"I think it became by business around the time that you began tying me up." King Bob pointed out.

Spinelli finished up the rope and tried to ignore him as she walked passed him and started to climb the jungle gym again, but King Bob was not finished speaking quite yet,

"You do realize that the monkey boy isn't going to just lay around and watch you do these things right? This is the kind of thing he stops."

Spinelli paused midstep. She knew that as well, in fact, as one of the former members in the group, she knew of the kind of things TJ stopped much better than King Bob would. She also knew that she would be facing him before she'd be quite ready for it. But it was now or never, and she had to convince TJ that the old Spin wasn't around anymore, that she wasn't coming back, because if she could convince TJ that she was bad then maybe she'd be able to convince herself.

"Yeah I know, but this time it wont be so easy to stop."

Then she climbed her way to the top and sat on the throne nearly sideways and waited as she watched the kids of the playground notice what she did and where she was sitting. Her plan had gone very well so far.

When she spotted a red cap in the crowd she quickly turned her head and decided not to look at the crowd anymore. With any luck TJ would decide to think over the situation instead of acting on it right away, since she was still just trying to get use to things how they were now.

Then, as if she hadn't asked him and his little crownies to stay out of her first big act as a "bad girl," Skeens showed up making everything more dramatic than Spinelli planned to, but she allowed him to put the crown on her head. King Bob's that she had actually left with him, but apparently Skeens had picked it up. She wasn't even surprised by his showboating or sudden appearance. No, he was not the one that she was surprised to see. The real surprise came when TJ Detweiler climbed up and stood directly in front of Skeens as if they were facing off or something.

Spinelli blinked in surprise as she let out a confused and familiar,

"Teej?"

But TJ was not paying attention to her at the moment. He was too busy glaring daggers at Skeens.

"So your the one behind all of this." TJ said with anger in his eyes.

Skeens smirked,

"I'll gladly take credit for this one."

TJ reached forward and grabbed Skeens by his collar with both hands to Spinelli's increasing shock,

"More like you'll take responsibility for it." TJ said in a cold voice that was very foreign to him and anyone else who knew the easy going, morally obligated, calm TJ Detweiler.

It was enough to make even Spinelli nervous.


	12. Chapter 12: Junglegym Fight

12

TJ could not remember a time when he felt so angry and out of control. The minute he was face to face with Skeens he had this uncontrollable urge to punch the Graffiti kid right in his face. He refrained from doing that straight away, but it was a hard won battle. Instead, before he could even restrain himself he found his hands clutching Skeens collar hard. He barely resisted the urge to shake him like a rag doll as he threatened the other boy and told him that he was going to take responsibility.

By this time the rest of TJ's crew had caught up with him about the same time that the rest of Skeens group made their way to the top of the jungle gym, though TJ barely registered this fact through the haze of his anger. He wondered how it had gotten this bad, how Spinelli's decision to go bad had somehow made him act badly. He was normally a calm, go with the flow kind of kid, but seeing Skeens corrupting Spinelli, and watching Spinelli lie to herself and call herself bad was driving him crazy (literally it seemed). But Skeens made it even worse because he wouldn't stop smirking even in light of TJ's anger and of course the other boy seemed ready to fan the flame,

"You seem to be upset about something but I can't figure out what that's about. Is it because Spin is no longer your lacky? Or maybe something more troubling to you, like because she's hanging out with me more than you now?"

TJ began to see little red dots almost on the outside of his vision as Skeens had made that comment. His blood boiled in his veins at Skeens audacity. Not being able to comtain himself at the moment TJ lifted his fist and punched Skeens in the stomach. Nearly the entire playground gasped in unison at the one move. No one had ever seen TJ hit anyone, then again he usually had Spinelli around for that sort of thing. But no matter how many shocked kids there were around, TJ saw none of them. His attention and anger was fully on Skeens who was still trying to smirk as he clutched his stomach in pain. TJ seemed to have paid attention to Spinelli's previous hits because his had been pretty powerful for a beginner. After he'd punched the other boy he said in the same cold, dangerous voice he had before,

"Don't you ever, EVER call her that again. To you her name is Spinelli, I'm the only one that gets to call her Spin got it? So back off and leave her alone now."

Skeens tutted at TJ when it was his turn to speak, making sure his smirk was still in place despite the pain as he said,

"Green is actually a very good color for you, I'll make sure to use that in my next painting, but currently I've already got a model whose anger is beautiful. I'll make sure to give you a painted copy of my current work when I'm finished, since I will be keeping the original canvas, which if you couldn't guess is Spinelli herself. She's done with you and your little rag tag of do-gooders. I've freed her from your chains, and now she's a queen of rebels. She is like a goddess of fury unleashed on the world!"

TJ could feel his stomach drop and practically each work Skeens was saying. A number of mixed emotions ran through him at a mile a minute. He wanted to do a number of things at once but didn't know how half of them would go. In his crazed state of mind he had half a mind to try throwing Spinelli over his shoulder and climbing down the jungle gym, hoping that she was too shocked by the action to start swinging or get away. But on the other hand he didn't want to prove Skeens statement of having her in chains so to speak because she had to follow the rules. He wondered if she was unhappy about that, but he had always thought that she looked so happy with them, except when she was in a bad mood.

But he knew that not so deep down she was a good person, and it seemed to him that Skeens was trying to use her as his muse, and possibly something more that he didn't even want to figure out. TJ didn't like it and he wasn't about to back down now. Spinelli seemed to need him. She was a girl who could win nearly any physical battle, but she seemed not to be able to see the good qualities about herself. Or perhaps she was confusing the slightly darker part of herself for her real self. He really needed to have a talk with her alone, but he figured that definitely wouldn't happen with Skeens around.

"You and your friends had better leave her alone and stop filling her head with nonsense and junk or you wont know what hit you. My friends and I aren't going to give her to you so that you can mess up her life. We are her true friends and inside she knows that. She may be going through something right now but I'm going to be the one to help her get out of it, because I care more about her than you ever will."

Skeens eyed TJ for a second before he slowly and dramatically walked over to the throne and put his hand on Spinelli's right shoulder all the while smirking at TJ,

"We'll see about that Detweiler. I believe I'm the one that cares for her the most. I'm certainly more willing to prove it."

Having said that he leaned down, his eyes still on TJ's, and with a wicked smirk he nipped at Spinelli's ear. Again the playground gasped before growing even more silent. All looking back and forth between the two boys, and now Spinelli who was turning fifteen shades of red and balling her fists in preparation of lashing out at him. But before she could so much as twitch a muscle TJ had run forward and shoved him,

"Don't you dare touch her!"

Skeens smirked harder as he came back and backhanding TJ across his cheek,

"And so the fun begins."

TJ reeled for a second, surprised at being hit, but then his anger got the better of him and he sent back a punch, that had so much force that they both ended up on the ground as they continued to fight. Randall who had been so engrossed in watching the situation unfold, and so shocked by the sudden changes in behavior only then remembered what his job was and ran off quickly calling,

"Ms. Finster! Ms. Finster! Detweiler and Skeens are fighting on the jungle gym." He soon was gone as he went to find help.

Vince had moved forward to stop the fight, or mostly TJ who was mostly a peaceloving guy, but was instantly blocked by Mundy.

"Eh where do ya think your going?" Mundy said with crossed arms and Vince tried to go around him saying,

"I'm going to stop them from fighting like this, we aren't into your whole physical fighting thing. If we do anything it's usually a prank, now move."

"Ah I see," Mundy said with a smug look, "your scared aren't ya?"

Vince's eyebrows furrowed,

"Scared, what do I have to be scared about? If you think I'm scared of any of you guys your crazy."

"You talk a good game LaSalle, but you couldn't beat me in a real fight. All the sports you do are because there are rules against hurtin' other people. So really when it gets down to it your a wimp and a chicken."

Vince froze in his place and looked Mundy straight in his eyes and said,

"What did you just call me?"

"A wimp, a coward, a chicken, a LaSalle. I heard 'bout your brother the nerd, guess wimpiness runs in your family eh?" Mundy taunted.

In an instant Vince pushed Mundy,

"Don't you ever talk about my family."

And with a punch to Mundy's side and a kick to Vince's knee, they were fighting too.

Gretchen moved forward looking around at the two fighting and trying to pick out the best way to stop both TJ and now Vince from fighting, when Sue Bob Murphy came up to her and started pulling her hair and mocking her.

"What's wrong Smarty Pants can't handle a little fighting? Can't use science to get out of this one can you? Huh? Huh?" the girl taunted obnoxiously as Gretchen fixed her glasses and tried to reason with her,

"Physical fighting doesn't accomplish anything. Historically speaking it only ends up creating more and more problems. If people would just sit down and have well thought out, intelligent conversations and debates then we could learn to understand eachother better and then-"

But Gretchen was interupted by Sue Bob Murphy tapped her finger on a part of the jungle gym as she rapped,

"Smarty Pants can't fi-ight, all she does is t-awe-awe-k (talk). She reads her books, has no good looks, and squawks and squawks and squawks. In case you haven't heard, she is just like a bird, she squawks away, and talks all day, and is a big big nerd."

Despite the fact that Gretchen knew that very little good was ever accomplished fighting, and though she was much more willing to verbally spar, than physically, she felt that she had been pressed hard enough. And since two other members of her group was fighting she figured to herself, 'When in Rome do what the Romans do' applied well. So she grabbed on to one of Sue Bob Murphy's locks, and yanked hard.

"Since you seem to be either hard at hearing, or hard at understanding, I suppose I'll just have to communicate with you in your own language." And with that Gretchen was in it.

Gus, seeing that now three members of his group was fighting, didn't see any way around it. So, in order to get someone he was able to fight he instantly ran over to Lazy Kid and said,

"I call Lazy Kid."

He so was not going to allow himself to be left with Kurst the Worst, as his fighting partner. Gus made a big show of lightly kicking Lazy Kid in the side. But unfortunately for Gus the moment he went to kick Lazy Kid (in his sleep mind you), Lazy Kid shifted and Gus ended up sprawled on the ground. Then Lazy Kid rolled over and Gus ended up trapped under the other boys sleeping body. Flailing his arms Gus called,

"He's got me! He's got me! I'm trapped!"

Mikey shook his head and then raised his hands high into the air dramatically shouting,

"Oh the carnage! My friends, Violence only begets more violence! Let us cease this meaningless quarl and try to better understand each other in the hopes of making new friends not enemies!" He called to the group, who were all too busy to hear him really.

Having previously made friends with 'Kurst the Worst' Mikey and Kurst herself weren't to keen on being up against each other. So since they both didn't want to, but felt obliged to do something, they both ended up poking each other back and forth.

Ironically by the time Ms. Finster stepped in view of the jungle gym, Spinelli was the only one of the two groups not fighting.

"Holy mother of detention what are you degenerates up to now? SEPARATE IMMEDIATELY!" she yelled climbing up the jungle gym as she spoke and mumbling, "I go to check up on one suspicious absentee call/possible school skipping situation nearby and the playground erupts in chaos!"

When she got to the top, with Randall on her heels, she was a bit surprised at what she found there. But she quickly hauled Lazy Kid off of Gus, barked at Randall to untie the King and his men, snapped at Gretchen who quickly backed off of Sue Bob Murphy at the voice of an authority figure, separated Vince and Mundy, and Lastly, detatched TJ from Skeens. Kurst and Mikey had stopped upon her entrance so they didn't need any interference from Finster.

"I don't know what started this but all of you miscreants fighting are in big trouble. For the moment you'll be separated to the end of recess. Then if I were you I wouldn't make any plans for at least the next full week of your life because you'll be with me in detention, and if I have my way it will be a long grueling one every recess for the entire time. Just you wait for what Principal Prickly has to say about this!"

And with that she led them off, all except for Spinelli who was still in shock about all of the things that had happened. She leaned back in the throne with a sigh as she tried to process it all. Then as the recess bell rang, and most of the other kids went inside, King Bob walked over and stood in front of her his head tilted slightly to the side.

"I notice you don't look too happy at the moment Girl who runs with fists, isn't this what you wanted? You not only tied up my friends and I, but also got your old group and new group in trouble, I'd say you seem to be doing very well in creating this bad girl persona, and yet it doesn't really seem to suit you," He said calmly as he took his crown off of her head and placed it back on his own, "you know if I were you I'd stop worrying about whatever it is that made you start acting this way and start thinking about who your real friends are before you lose them."

Spinelli allowed him to take back his crown and sighed as she slunk back into the throne and covered her face with her hands as the wheels in her mind kept spinning. She didn't know what was going on any more.

King Bob tutted and decided to say one more thing before going to class,

"Even though you are more than deserving of a swirly and more than a few trips to the dodgeball wall I will let you off the hook for today since your group has done quite a lot for me and this playground in my time. But if you ever touch my throne or royal body again after today you will not be so easily forgiven. That is all peasant. Feel free to be in awe of my magnanimousness and all, and don't forget your kings awe inspiring words of wisdom. I bid you good day." he finished as he made his cape swing and headed to his class.

Spinelli shook her head feeling quite overwhelmed. She spent the rest of the school day until the last half hour sitting there and just thinking about things. Especially about one boy in particular.


	13. Chapter 13: Emotional Drawing

(Hey there all I just wanted to let everyone know that unfortunately I'm going on vacation for a week so I won't be

able to post for you at all (through lack of internet connection) starting Sunday. I'm going to try to get

at least one or two new chapters up before I leave though (including this one) so please bare with me

for a little while because I will be back in a week or so. Thank you for your wonderful comments and support for my

fanfics I'm glad they are enjoyable to read as well as to write ^^. See you all soon.)

13

The minute that Spinelli got home she threw her backpack on to the coat rack and started to head upstairs when she heard her father call,

"Hey pumpkin guess whats on the boobtube?" her dad, Bob Spinelli, called out to her.

"Wrestling." Spinelli answered not sounding very interested as she headed up to her room, locked the door, and layed out on her bed staring up at the ceiling hoping to make her mind as blank as possible.

Bob Spinelli meanwhile moved to the kitchen to talk to his wife Flo,

"Flo something is not right with my pookie, wrestling is on and she didn't even so much as blink in it's direction."

Flo, who was currently handwashing the dishes, shook her head at that,

"Well she has been acting strangely lately but I wouldn't worry about it too much. She's a growing girl and there are a lot of emotions and hormones and the like all mixed up and confused. I say we just give her some time and space to make her own decisions. She'll do the right thing if we believe in her."

Bob sighed,

"I suppose your right snookums, but I wish there was something more I could do. I hate to just wait around and I'm going to miss the daddy/daughter time we spend watching wrestling."

"Don't worry Bob there's still a chance she won't grow out of that just quite yet. Just give it some time." Flo said as she whiped her hands clean and headed upstairs to take a shower before making dinner.

"Your right honey..." he said as Flo climbed the stairs, but as soon as she was out of site he grabbed the phone and dialed the Detweiler's phone, "Hello Mrs. Detweiler this is Bob Spinelli I was just calling because my pookie seems to be acting strangely lately and I thought TJ might know why so- what's that you say? ... TJ?...Really?!...He doesn't normally fight and it didn't look to me like my pumpkin was fighting lately, we didn't get a call home or anything...mmhmm... mmhmm... uh uh... I will then... I agree we should... yes. I'll talk to Flo then, thanks for the information I'll see what I can find on my end as promised but it might take a few days since she's holed up in her room and my wife seems to think she needs some privacy...mmmhmmm...good then... you take care now...bye."

As soon as Bob hung up the phone Flo stepped into back into the kitchen, put on an apron, and got out the ingredients for the nights dinner, but just as Bob thought he'd gotten away with his clever little conversation, Flo said,

"You really have no patience at all do you Bob?"

Bob turned his head towards the stairs that Spinelli had climbed when she had gotten home,

"Not when it comes to my family honey."

"Oh Bob..." Flo said putting down what she had in her hands in order to give her husband a hug and a peck on the lips, "I know you did it for good reasons."

Bob wrapped one arm around his wife as he said,

"I don't want anything bad happening to my baby girl, especially since she's had such a rough time since Joey went to jail. She really looked up to him and I don't want her making bad choices because of that."

"Bob, our Ashley is not like our Joey, sure they have similarities but every child is different. I'm sure she'll make the right decision in the end Bob. She certainly has one thing that Joey didn't that I believe made all the difference." Flo commented.

"What's that?"

"Good friends. She's got very good friends." Flo said with a nodd.

"Your right honey, she does have good friends. They'll help her out and we'll be here for her too if she needs us. I just wish I knew what the problem was." Bob said hugging Flo close.

"We'll find out soon enough, if not then as long as she get's through it fine it won't matter."

"She'll be fine. Yes, she's got a heart of gold under that tough skin of hers."

"Yes she does, yes she does." Flo half whispered.

Meanwhile, up in her room Spinelli was still trying to make sense of all of the thoughts that were going through her head. She organized them into sections in her mind like Gretchen had once taught her to do, but at the end of all that mental work all Spinelli had was a headache, a feeling that she was going to completely skip going to school tomorrow, and a certain someone's words circling around in her brain. She massaged her temples before getting up and kicking one of her dresser's hard with one of her booted feet. She was so frustrated that she just wanted to smash everything up in her room but at the same time she wanted to crawl under the covers and never get out again.

She growled loudly attempting to let out all the frustration that she'd been feeling in one loud roar, but even the roar wasn't enough to get it all out, but it did help. She opened her toy chest and started throwing things against the wall. It made her feel a bit of relaxation and control where she felt she was loosing it. When she had thrown all of her toys out and back into the toy chest she grabbed a sketch pad off of her desk as well as a box of charcoal pencils and threw them on the bed, before taking her boots off, and jumping on to the bed herself.

Spinelli then got under the covers and rearranged the pad and pencils where she had wanted them before she began to draw.

She had decided to try not to think of anything and just let her current emotions take over the drawing. For a long while she sat drawing without really paying much attention to the paper at all. She concentrated on the lines of the drawings themselves until her mom called,

"Pookie it's time for bed."

She put the finishing touches on to the drawing before putting away her charcoal pencils and placing the pad under the desk lamp on her desk. Spinelli was about to head to bed when the drawing caught her eye and she looked down at it to actually see what she drew, and there in black and white sat two profiles with a separator between the two. And those profiles just happened to be Greg Skeens and T.J. Detweiler.

"This Whomps...this really, really whomps." she said as she sprawled out across her bed and tried to go to sleep, but it would be hours before she accomplished that, and even in her dreams she did not get a rest.


	14. Chapter 14: Detention

14

TJ had decided that this just wasn't his week. He figured he had a good childhood run so far anyway, with only a bad day or two in between, so perhaps it was his time to have a bad spell. Or at least that's what he told himself as he sat behind Vince in detention. Speaking of detention TJ really didn't understand what grown up's were thinking when they arrange this kind of punishment. What exactly were they hoping to accomplish by putting together a bunch of kids that weren't following the rules together in one place. Especially when the reason that they were in detention in the first place was because they were fighting each other. TJ imagined that kind of thinking like as if they had put two hungry tigers in a cage or enclosed space. It made no sense and sometimes it even escaladed the problem. Like how Skeens sat three chairs down drawing furiously (which TJ could only assume was his own face considering the angry strokes) , and how TJ himself was thinking about how much trouble he'd be in if he "accidently" threw his math book at Skeens head. It's not like he used the book for anything else.

Leaning forward he laid his head on the table and closed his eyes thinking about what happened last night. His parents were pretty easy going usually, especially when it came to his pranks but his mother had not liked the fact that he'd gotten into a physical fight. Truth to tell TJ didn't like it much himself, but a boy's got to do, what a boys got to do, and he felt this was a good reason to fight. But because of that fight his mother had not left him alone yesturday at all. She'd followed him around asking all types of questions that he'd told her he couldn't answer or sometimes had blatently ignored. But it was as he had first said to her the minute he'd gotten home and she'd asked about the fight, he had done it for something important, it was something he had to take a stand on. She hadn't really understood what he was saying and tried to get more information out of him but that was all he'd give. It was a kid's code not to get parents involved in kid fights and besides that he didn't want his mother getting any ideas about him liking Spinelli or anything. Grown up's were always thinking of that kind of lovey dovey stuff for some reason. TJ just didn't get it, couldn't a guy watch out for a female friend without having to be in like with them or something.

TJ let out a little sigh as he opened his eyes again and turned his head to face away from Skeens and the rest of the 'bad' group. His eyes locked on to the window in the classroom door as he began to daze out. As he looked through the window on the door into the hall he thought about how Spinelli hadn't made it to school today and wondered if she was skipping school or simply taking a sick day. He realized that though yesturday had been for her he had some how managed to lose track of her reaction to the fight. He really hoped the fight made her see that everyone in the group still cared about her and wanted her back.

In fact, the longer TJ sat there the more he felt resolved to go and have a chat with Spinelli after school at her home. No matter how much she was acting like they couldn't be friends anymore, for whatever reason she had convinced herself of, she would not even think of getting rid of the latter by her window which TJ used when he wanted to visit her when he snuck out of his house passed his bedtime. He wondered if she even remembered it was there come to think of it, since he hadn't used it in a few months and since she seemed to have other things on her mind. In fact, he had even forgotten it that first night that he was yelling for her outside of her house, which he was a bit embarassed about at this point, it might have helped if he'd been able to stop her earlier. Either way he was going to try to see her tonight and convince her that she was acting crazy and that the group needed her again. No matter what happened he was going to go to her house and reason with her.

And just as he made up his mind to do that Finster whacked a ruler across his desk,

"Detweiler this is a detention not a time for you to daydream. Your here to think about what you've done and to be miserable got it buster? You and the rest of these hooligans seem to need something to do to make better use of your time don't you? Very well then all of you will open up your math textbooks and solve all of the problems starting from page 62-105 beginning now."

The entire room groaned except for Gretchen who beamed as she took out her textbook. But she was soon thwarted by Finster's hand as she confiscated the textbook,

"Not you Grundler your punishment is to just sit there, no studying for you."

Gretchens eyes widened slightly before her smile fell and she shook her head,

"Say it isn't so..." she whispered to herself.

"I won't do that Grundler, this is for your own good. Detention is not meant to be a place of enjoyment it's a place of punishment got it?" Miss Finster said staring them all down.

"Yes Miss Finster." The collective group echoed.

"Very well then get to it."

TJ opened his mathbook and notebook on his desk before turning to ask Mikey if he had an extra pencil, and just as he did Skeens had lifted his portrait of TJ and was showing the collective group. It was the worst picture he had ever seen of himself before, which was probably a lot of work for Skeens to make it that bad considering the fact that Skeens could draw pretty well for a boy his age, he was no Spinelli, but even TJ had to grudgingly admit that he had some talent. TJ quickly asked Mickey for a pencil and ignored Skeen's groups snickering as he begun the assignment. In his whole life TJ couldn't remember one time that he had ever hated another kid, but Skeens certainly seemed to be pushing him to it. TJ didn't want to hate anyone, but sometimes a kid just can't help it.

So for the rest of Detention TJ ignored Skeens and his flunkies, and halfly worked on the assignment, while the other half of him went over what he was going to say to Spinelli. Still even with all of that to occupy his time Detention still seemed to drag on and on. By the time it was over TJ decided that he was going to take a nap before facing Spin. If he wanted to really convince her, he figured he'd need it.


	15. Chapter 15: The Uninvited Guest

15

Being very tired of thinking, Ashley Spinelli had decided to do things around the house in order to get her mind off of her current issues. So she spent a lot of time working out and watching TV when her parents were both at work. Of course she'd quickly ran up and locked herself in her room five minutes before her mother was due home. She so wasn't going to be talking to her mother about anything until she figured out which group of friends she was sticking with. The logical group, considering the fact that she enjoyed not holding herself back from doing the things she wanted to, was Skeen's group. But a lot of the time friendships weren't logical.

In a way, the fact that her old group wasn't anything like her, was their appeal. Not to mention the fact that she had really been happy being the braun of the group. She had been able to be a good guy and protect people who were bullied, while using a bit of her might. And even though she had been in the "good" group she had been able to keep her reputation up as far as being strong and tough. No matter what group she was in no one ever confused her for a girly girl that was for sure, which is all she really wanted. Though she enjoyed her old group and really liked the mix of kids there, she was still upset thinking over what had happened, and how TJ and the gang just wasn't able to fully understand her the way Skeens and his cohorts could. In all actually Skeens really seemed to get her, but did that mean that TJ didn't really get her? Even after so many years together. Or was she not giving him enough credit perhaps? Maybe TJ did get some things that she thought he didn't, but how would she ever know if he didn't talk about it.

At dinner Spinelli realized that she was thinking about the whole situation again, and so when she had finished and washed her hands she picked up her drawing pad and began drawing. First a picture of TJ, then one of Skeens. She figured maybe she could come up with a better answer if she was able to assess the situation visually, since that was her specific learning style. When she had finished, colors and all, Spinelli tapped the two pictures on the wall against her bed. She went into the bathroom and got prepared for bed, before heading back to the room, turning off her light, and gazing out of the window in a daze as she prepared to sleep.

For a while Spinelli lay on her bed dreamily looking out at the stars and night sky. It was just about the first time since the beginning of the week that her mind truly was blank of all thought. The window was open and the cool night air hit her face and arms outside of her blanket. It felt very comfortable in her room at the moment and Spinelli was very near closing her eyes when she heard a creaking sound outside of her window sill and a shadowed hand grabbed on to the inside of her windowsill.

Spinelli sat up at that and tilted her head to the side looking confused,

"TJ?" she questioned as the shadowy figure climbed into her room and began walking towards her, but the walk was not as familiar as that of TJ's, "Wait a minute your not TJ? Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

Spinelli got up prepared to fight whoever it was and kick them out of her room, when the shadowy figure's hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer,

"Patience Spinelli," The figure whispered in her ear, "all your questions will be answered in due time."

Spinelli snatched her wrist back quickly before backing up to try to get a better look at who it was, but the moment she moved to turn on a light, a swift movement caused her lamp to fall. The lamp fell on to a misplaced pillow and rolled under Spinelli's bed, and by that time Spinelli's eyes widened as she recognized who was in her room,

"But how did you-"

He lifted a finger to his lips,

"Don't worry about that Spinelli, we have more important issues to take care of." The figure whispered as he slowly moved closer and closer until there was very little room between himself and Spinelli. The lack of space made Spinelli very uncomfortable and she wondered what exactly his intentions were.


	16. Chapter 16: A Little Advice

(Yay! I'm back from vacation and I'm loving the comments! Lol seriously everytime I get one I think of more ideas and end up considering making more fanfics based on the show that seems to be popular, which so far seems to be recess ^^, so I'm keeping up with it more than others. I'm loving the good feedback so thank you all who are reading, favoriting, and reviewing. ^^ So here it is :) )

16

_Spinelli got up prepared to fight whoever it was and kick them out of her room, when the shadowy figure's hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer,_

_"Patience Spinelli," The figure whispered in her ear, "all your questions will be answered in due time."_

_Spinelli snatched her wrist back quickly before backing up to try to get a better look at who it was, but the moment she moved to turn on a light, a swift movement caused her lamp to fall. The lamp fell on to a misplaced pillow and rolled under Spinelli's bed, and by that time Spinelli's eyes widened as she recognized who was in her room,_

_"But how did you-"_

_He lifted a finger to his lips, "Don't worry about that Spinelli, we have more important issues to take care of." The figure whispered as he slowly moved closer and closer until there was very little room between himself and Spinelli. The lack of space made Spinelli very uncomfortable and she wondered what exactly his intentions were._

Spinelli could not believe who she was looking at. How on earth had he gotten here? And what exactly was he planning to do? She was suddenly under the impression that the boy had gone crazy. Just nuts. His being here in her room seemed downright impossible. Of all of the people that she'd have considered climbing through her window, she never thought it would be him.

The recently identified figure leaned forward and whispered in her ear,

"You'll have to be more quiet than that, I love you and all but if I'm caught now I'm taking you down with me."

Spinelli frowned, her eyebrows furrowing in annoyance,

"You have to be some kind of cracked to show up here now Joey."

The older brother in question merely chuckled quietly, let her go, and stood back to see how she'd grown,

"I suppose that's all dependent on your definition. But that's not important right now, I see that you've certainly grown little sis. You look a lot different than I remember, and woah your still wearing my boots? I really thought I'd be getting those back...oh well, in their place can I borrow twenty bucks?"

Spinelli scowled,

"Joey I'm a kid how am I supposed to have that kind of cash?"

Joey scratched his head and shrugged,

"Got me."

He moved over to the dresser and swiped a golden necklace with a pink bow on it, before stuffing it in his pocket,

"I'll just take this then it's not like your going to wear it and there's a pawn shop over by where I'm crashing right now," he stated before chuckling, "mom really doesn't give up trying to get you to go girly does she? She's been ranting about how it's all my fault that your such a tomboy. But I'd rather you be a tomboy than need protecting, I'm not around enough to keep the guys away and underneath the biker chick look you got going there you got the looks of a model."

Spinelli put one hand on her hip as she continued scowling at him,

"I am not, and don't think I'm gonna let you get away with not answering questions because you riled me up. How did you get here? Aren't you supposed to still be in jail? Why come to my bedroom?"

Joey tutted lifting up his finger to his lips again to remind her to be quiet,

"One question at a time _Ashley_," he said as he looked over a silver vase that his mom obviously had put in there since it was so off with the regular decor, he slipped it into his leather jacket before saying, "well the answer to the first question is in the back of a prison laundry truck after a bit of bribery, the second is yes, yes I am, and the third is simple, mom has been worried about you and so I figure it's my cue to play big brother."

Spinelli's eyebrow rose at that,

"Guess I gotta ask differently, why did you escape from jail?"

Joey sighed and sat down on the bed,

"Look I know I haven't been much of a big brother to you in the past years, being in jail and all, but I sensed that you needed my guidance now. Mom told me you were getting into a bad crowd and it's up to me to speak to you about it." he said looking solemn.

Spinelli snorted as she jumped up on the bed herself shaking her head at him as she spoke,

"Yeah right like your the right person to tell me what I ought to do. I know what your going to say, TJ and my old crew are my real friends, Skeens and the others are just using me for my strength. I should stick with the good guys, yada yada yada, bla bla bla."

"Um...no I was just going to say don't get caught and that they'll be looking at you more closely than they did me since your my sister... but your thing sounded good anyway. It would be a bit hypocritical of me to say not to do it, even though you are kind of copying me," Joey said tilting his head to the side as he spotted her piggy bank, "you planning on using that?"

Spinelli gave Joey a glare before punching him hard in the shoulder,

"What do you think?"

Joey scrunched his nose as he looked back at her,

"A simple no would have done the job."

Spinelli let out a frustrated sigh as she lay back dramatically on the bed,

"Joey I really don't need this right now, I have enough problems without you breaking out of jail to visit me."

Joey made a confused face,

"I broke out of jail to visit you?... Oh, OH YES! I did see, who's your favorite brother?"

"Hmmm...not many choices."

"You were a lot cuter when you were a toddler." Joey commented.

"Funny you were a lot cooler than too." Spinelli shot back.

"Well either way it sounds to me like you really already made your choice, you gave me a pretty good argument for sticking with your old group anyway. I was personally rooting for the new group, that's the way I would have gone anyway. But if they hurt you I may be dragged back for murder." Joey stated.

"Joey your already going to be dragged back for escaping." Spinelli pointed out trying her best to ignore the rest of his statement.

"Nah they'll never know I was gone. I have a friend who works in the infirmary saying that I'm sick, and I just got out two days ago, if I get back in three days they'll never tell the difference. I got connections..." he bragged smugly.

Spinelli shook her head,

"Your going to be connected to handcuffs again if you don't get your butt back in jail."

"Ah relax Ash, for someone so 'bad' you nag a lot."

Spinelli gritted her teeth and pushed Joey off of her bed,

"Keep it up Joey and I'm gonna call the police on you myself."

"My own sister a snitch? What is wrong with the kid's of today..." Joey said shaking his head as if traumatized.

"I ain't a snitch, but I'm tired and cranky and I have too much on my mind to deal with somethin' else like this okay? I'm not goin' to jail as your accomplice, if I do end up in the slammer it'll be because of somethin' I did myself to get there." Spinelli said as she looked up at the picture of Skeens.

"So your aim is jail? That's just depressing, trust me Ashl you don't want to go in there, it sounds cool but its really not... except I did get a couple of degrees in there..." Joey said mostly to himself, before he followed the direction of her gaze and spotted the pictures on the wall, "hmm what are these?"

"Don't!" Spinelli said reaching up to try to rip them down and hide them before her brother could get any weird ideas.

"Ashley Spinelli don't tell me your already interested in boys?" Joey said his face turning thunderous, "who are these people the one with the cap looks familiar?"

Spinelli growled at him,

"I aint interested in no boys now put those down."

"Having their faces on your wall doesn't exactly seem like your not interested now tell me who they are before I find out for myself." he commented in a somewhat dangerous voice.

"Their just some guys. The one in the cap is TJ from my old crew, and the other one is Skeens from my new gang, okay? Happy now?"

"Ah it's little Det in the cap, that's cute, I remember that time I made you guys have that fake wedding just so mom would make us cake...good times." Joey said with a little chuckle.

"You what?!" Spinelli nearly screamed except that Joey clapped his hand on her mouth.

"Oh relax it doesn't count as a real marriage...Dad opted on not going with a real priest though mom wanted to. Anyway I'm surprised you haven't seen the pictures."

"Pictures... those must be found and burned." Spinelli said looking around wildly as if they were hiding somewhere in her room.

"Mom's probably got them, but really that's a discussion for another time. At the moment I have to point out that I figured you and TJ would probably end up dating at some point. I mean it's nearly impossible for guys and girls to just be best friends, friends maybe but once you hit that second intimacy level it's really only a matter of time before one thing turns into another and then she's out there warning you that the police are coming and she tries to cover for you but they don't buy it so later she has to visit you in jail for those special kind of visits and you start talking about marriage, or she does anyway, and then you have to tell her that you've got to wait until you get out of jail to get married and preferably get a job because you don't want to live in a trailer with 8 kids because that's such a stereotype and-"

"I really don't know where your going with this, but I'm not into boys yet if that's what your implying, and I really don't get why everyone thinks that me and Teej have somethin' goin' on, we don't." Spinelli said with a groan. She really was getting annoyed with everyone being in her business.

"Well then why is his picture up on your wall? And what's with the other guy? Another 'friend'?" Joey questioned.

"Like I said it's the leader of the old and the new group, though I'm more of the leader of the latter to tell the truth, I put them up there to help me pick a crew once and for all." Spinelli answered.

"Well if that was the case how come you didn't draw out the entire groups? Your talented enough to do it. Looks to me like your choosing a guy, not a group, and if that's the case choose Little Det, he'll probably treat you better, and I don't know the other guy." Joey said waving the pictures in the air before Spinelli snatched them back and put them back on to the wall.

"I'm not picking neither of them, like I told you this is about the groups." Spinelli commented as she fixed them properly on the wall.

"Uh huh... note to self kill this Skeens fellow."

"No Joey your not gonna kill Skeens."

"AHA! So you do care!" Joey whispered loudly.

"That's not what I'm saying! Your gonna be in the joint long enough as it is!" she whispered back harshly, "mom will have a corinary."

"Alright, alright I won't kill him myself... I know some people."

"Joey..."

"Sheesh, fine, fine I won't do it...for now."

Spinelli sat back up and groaned. She was about to continue the fight when she heard a noise outside. Joey jumped as he put on a mask to hide his face and tugged his sister in front of him and clamped his hand over her mouth before whispering,

"I'm doing this so that if it is the police you won't go to jail with me. They'll think I was holding you hostage or something."

Spinelli shook her head as she tried to say something back, but all he could hear is mumbling. The outside latter shook slightly as another shadowed person started to climb through the windowsill. Spinelli couldn't believe the traffic she was getting in her room at the moment, she really didn't want any of it, even if she did miss her brother this wasn't the way that she wanted to see him exactly. Then she didn't know who the next person was, but she was pretty sure that she was too tired and emotionally drained to deal with anyone else at the moment. Still, she did want to know who it was. She hoped it wasn't the police.

The new figure paused in the windowsill as he looked over to see Spinelli being held by a darkened masked figure. Then a deadly sounding voice rumbled one word,

"Skeens."


	17. Chapter 17: Mistaken Identity

17

TJ Detweiler had planned to go directly to Spinelli's straight after school, but as all of his "plans" had been going lately, this one two didn't work quite as expected.

Towards the end of detention the school had recieved a call from his mother telling him to head straight home, and to not even think about making any detours what-so-ever.

TJ briefly considered telling her no, but he didn't think that would be a great idea considering he was trying to stop Spinelli from rebelling herself, not join her in the madness.

So he'd headed home, did his chores and homework, ate dinner, and finally his mother decided she was going to bed leaving TJ with some free time to do what he had to do. So the minute that Mrs. Detweiler's head hit her pillow, TJ's feet hit the streets.

TJ waisted no time in getting to Spinelli's, and once again he was glad that she lived so close to him. It certainly was convienent to be in walking distance of his best friend, well best female friend even though he wouldn't admit it to Gretchen so that he didn't hurt her feelings. He actually wished Vince lived on the same street too, since Vince was the one he usually talked to about things that were bothering him, when he didn't feel comfortable talking about to a girl. But he'd take what he could get. Anyway that wasn't the current issue, he thought to himself, shaking his head to clear it of other, less important thoughts.

Before he knew it he was in front of the latter and he grinned a little nostalgically as he put his stepped on to the first rung. He was just about to climb up faster when he heard voices from inside the window. He paused, tensing up as he heard a lower voice mingling with Spinelli's higher one. He couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, though Spinelli seemed to be a bit upset. TJ himself could feel his anxiety turning to anger as his mind raced. He didn't know why he felt so angry suddenly, as he began to climb. But what he did know was that he wasn't about to let some guy climb up his latter into Spinelli's room with out a fight. Spinelli was his best friend and the latter had been put up for him only. He didn't know who it was that dared to do it, but his guess was that they had a death wish since it was Spinelli they were talking about. And if Spinelli wasn't up for it, TJ sure was.

The moment he reached the top of the latter, and slung his right leg in to the room, he tensed in suprise. There across from him was a guy with a black mask holding Spinelli against him, with his hand over Spinelli's mouth presumably to keep her from screaming. He made sure his whole body was in before he looked directly at the masked boy and said in the most dangerous and low voice he could muster,

"Skeens."

The masked figure tilted his head a little to the side before shaking it. TJ didn't know what he was trying to say but he also didn't care. What he did care about was the fact that 'Skeens' wasn't letting go of Spinelli. TJ wasn't sure how long he could stand there watching this before getting himself in even more trouble than he already was in with his mom. But frankly as he saw the other boys fingers squeeze Spinelli harder he felt himself not caring about that anymore.

"Let her go right now Skeens, she obviously doesn't want you touching her." he said moving forward with a dark frown on his face as he tried to think of the best way to handle the situation.

He couldn't just lung at him and slug him obviously since Spinelli might get hit in such ciaos. Plus 'Skeens' must have been a much better fighter than he'd let on at Recess if he could get Spinelli in such a hold. So TJ thought it would be best to play things slow, though it annoyed him to no end that he might have to. But after he had diffused this situation he would get the guy back his own way.

"Now back away from her and let's handle this like kids." he said when 'Skeens' didn't automatically move.

TJ looked into the other boys eyes, which were peaking from the two holes in the mask, noticing Spinelli shiifting or struggling a bit in the other's arms through his peripheral vision. Of the other boy didn't let go soon he was pretty sure he was going to attempt to break the other's arm, crazy strength or no.

The other boy merely smirked at him and stood their for a while while TJ's temper began to boil. Finally it broke when 'Skeens' pulled Spinelli tighter against him in a hug like fashion. TJ wasn't sure what caused him to do it, but once again he found his hand bawled into a fist, as he threw it at Spinelli's "attacker."


	18. Chapter 18: That Plan's Out the Window

(Fixed all the ladder problems that I saw thanks to shina ^^ lol spelling is hard people ^^. I just want to make sure that you guys can enjoy the story to the fullest so this one is so that Shina can enjoy lol. At least in this chapter which uses the word 'ladder' the most. Okay then ^^)

18

The minute that TJ had entered the room far enough for Spinelli to see him, the girl decided that her brother's plan was not necessary, and to make it worse her brother didn't seem to be letting go to easily. Spinelli wondered whether Joey could recognize who TJ was after all of these years or not. She at least wanted to know if he was still keeping her like that on purpose or through a lack of communication. But as she struggled to see his face, Joey tightened his grip on her so that she couldn't move with out risking the possibility of accidentally hurting him. Not that she knew if she still could. Joey had been in the joint for quite a while so far and despite his lanky frame, he was strong, strength that came from spending nearly every free hour he had in the prison weight room. A part of her was willing to test that out seeing as Joey was causing a situation at the moment. Not that she cared of course...but still...

Joey, meanwhile, was finding the current situation absolutely hilarious. He was trying hard not to laugh behind the mask so that he could see just how long he could milk the situation, and additionally, see just how much TJ would reveal without the convict saying even so much as one word. It had, admittedly, taken a good minute or two to realize who it was, mostly because TJ had been a lot younger last time he'd seen him. But the red cap, and the drawing he'd just been looking at, was enough for him to figure it out. Not to mention the fact that the kid had climbed through the window and seemed to have some rage against the Skeen's boy. Joey was a street smart guy, so he easily figured it out. And when he did, he knew it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

_"Let her go right now Skeens, she obviously doesn't want you touching her." _

_"Now back away from her and let's handle this like kids."_

Spinelli didn't know it, but the struggling that she was trying to do to get out of her brother's grip was not helping, in fact, it was doing the opposite. While she was trying to set herself free enough to explain to TJ that it was only her idiotic jail-breaking brother, TJ was under the impression that she was under duress, and Joey...well Joey was just enjoying himself to be honest.

The minute that the 'game' that Joey was playing changed was when TJ threw his fist at him. Joey automatically moved his arm to block the punch, which allowed Spinelli to slip past his grasp and back up. She quickly moved between them, grabbing TJ's arm and pushing Joey's away.

"That's enough." she demanded of both of them making sure to give them both hard looks.

Joey allowed his arm to be knocked away as he began to smirk and chuckle over the situation. TJ's eyebrow's furrowed, not finding the humor quite yet as Joey says,

"Well little Det I never thought you'd be the type to throw a punch, I'll admit I'm a bit impressed. I may even allow you to date my sister..."

Spinelli scowled at her brother,

"No one thinks your funny Joey, save the comedy for the cell block."

TJ paused for a moment as he tried to process the information being given to him. He practically gaped as Joey took off his mask and smirked at the younger boy.

"I see you missed me." Joey let out with a chuckle as TJ finally was able to speak though the confusion was by no means gone,

"Sister... Joey?... Joey?! What are you doing here I thought you were still in prison?"

Joey waved his hand in the air as if to shoo the statement away,

"I still am... It doesn't matter, my suggestion is that you forget you ever saw me or there could be problems. Speaking of which you wouldn't have any money on you would you?"

TJ shook his head as Spinelli sighed, walked over to the leaning ladder and angrily pushed it over,

"There now let's see any more people get into this window and ruin my concentration."

Joey's eyebrow rose at that,

"And how exactly do you expect either of us to get down without waking our parents now Spinelli?"

Spinelli squinted her eyes as she gave that a second of thought. Then realizing that Joey had a point, Spinelli got really pissed off and angrily threw a barbell out of the window,

"STUPID LOUSY LADDER!" she tried to yell though Joey clamped a hand over her mouth briefly.

"Be quiet, at least until I have an escape route again."

Spinelli glared and stepped away from him. TJ looked out of the window and spotted the ladder laying straight across the yard. He looked to the side of the building, spotting where a kid might be able to climb down if they were light enough,

"Well someone could probably get down without a rope if they were light enough, but I don't really suggest trying it unless it's the last thing to do." TJ said as he moved away from the windowsill to stand next to Joey.

Spinelli nodded,

"I got it then." she said as she threw her leg over the windowsill and looked for a place to put her foot.

An alarmed TJ and a slightly wide eyed Joey rushed over to the sill just as she grabbed on to the drain pipe attached to the side of the house.

"Spinelli what are you doing?" TJ said sticking his head out of the window before looking down to see that one hand was still connected to the sill.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm gettin' the ladder so you two can get out of my room and I can get some time to think." she commented as TJ shook his head.

"When I said someone light I didn't mean you I meant your brother. This is crazy Spinelli! You can't just run off and do dangerous things like that."

Joey frowned at TJ,

"So you didn't mind me getting hurt? Well that's just rude little Det, and now look at what you've done. You should know better than to tell my little sister things like that."

"Will you two stop yappin' it's no big deal, it's not like I can't handle myself?!" she snapped at them, though since she was so focused on yelling at them she didn't put enough attention into what she was doing.

So seconds after her statement Spinelli lost her grip on the drain pipe and began to fall. She closed her eyes, though she refused to scream as her reputation flashed through her mind, though she wasn't quite sure that it was completely healthy that in a seemingly dire situation the first thing she thought of was her rep. Whatever the case Spinelli was determined to be brave at the end, if it was the end.

But just as she took a deep breath and relaxed her body to take the fall correctly, as she had been taught, a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. Spinelli swung in the air for a few seconds before she felt her body begin to rise. She looked up into dark, concerned eyes and forgot all about that breath she had saved up. She knew that she was safe at the moment, though she made her face as blank as possible so that she didn't embarrass herself by being sappy at all.

TJ looked back into her eyes. Despite the fact that he had not been the one to almost fall from the windowsill his heart was still thumping inside of his chest. She'd nearly given him a heart-attack when she'd lost her grip. Even now as she was looking up at him he felt the need to tell her to calm down, though admittedly he felt that he looked a lot more in need of a calming than she was,

"It's okay Spin I got you, I won't let go I promise."

Still, TJ was taking his time getting her back into the room, but that was because he was terrified of dropping her, and she was light enough that his arms didn't hurt as he pulled her up. Spinelli refused to say anything, she was pretty sure that anything she said to that kind of comment would come out wrong and mushy. She wasn't going to fall into that trap easily.

Joey, meanwhile, was huffing and puffing behind TJ as he was holding on to TJ's ankles, while TJ was hanging out of the window pulling Spinelli upwards. When he got annoyed with TJ's ridiculously slow movements he decided to voice his opinion,

"Hurry it up their prince charming I'm the one doing the actual work here you know. Have your lovey dovey conversation when your back inside already."

Hearing that TJ quickened his pace in lifting while Joey backtracked until they all ended up back inside, lying on the floor, each one of them breathing a little heavier for the experience. When Spinelli had managed to catch her breath though she ruined the moment somewhat by saying,

"Now how are we going to get the ladder?"

Both TJ and Joey frowned, Joey saying,

"Are you really that obsessed with me leaving?"

While TJ let in,

"If you think I'm letting you go back the same way then you've really gone nuts."

Spinelli sighed as she shook her head,

"We'll it's not like you guys can go through the front door you know."

They all got up from their spots on the floor. Joey took a minute to brush off imaginary dust on his shirt before patting Spinelli's shoulder,

"Don't worry about it Sis I've got another way out when I need it, and I'll make sure to take little Det with me."

"It would be appreciated and soon." Spinelli pointed out rolling her shoulder so that Joey's hand fell off.

Rather than being upset, Joey chose to be amused, and to spite her he grabbed her from around the waist and threw her up into the air as if she were a toddler,

"Your so cute when your trying to be cool my little Ashley." he practically cooed at her, which caused her to growl, and TJ to cover his mouth which had quirked up in amusement.

Spinelli turned red with embarrassment before kicking her legs in the air in an attempt to get Joey to let her down, of course it only served to make her look more like a little kid, until she managed to catch him in the shoulder with his old boot. Joey didn't appreciate that and to get her back he pulled her in and got her in his grip holding her like a baby,

"Try that again Sis and I'll really embarrass you got it?"

Spinelli glared at him as he let up and put her down. She refused to say anything that would cause her brother to further embarrass her, or anything that seemed like she was giving in.

TJ looked over at the window as he realized that he had wasted his time somewhat in coming. He had planned to have a conversation with Spinelli on a one on one basis, but he figured now that Joey had suddenly appeared that wasn't going to be happening tonight. He did hope that she thought about the fact that he had told her he wouldn't let her go. He meant that to have a double meaning. But he wasn't going to explain that to her. He knew that she was smart enough to figure it out for herself, despite what she wanted people to believe Spinelli was a pretty smart girl.

He turned to look over at Joey who rose an eyebrow as their eyes met. TJ shrugged and then said,

"Hey do you think you could get that ride now? I should probably be getting home before my parents figure out I'm not in bed."

Joey nodded as he took out a walkie talkie from his pocket and said,

"Yo Weevil I'm gonna need that ride now. Yeah we got a ladder situation to so you know what to do. See you in five."

There was an affirmative answer back from the walkie talkie before Joey put it away and said victoriously,

"See no problem."

Spinelli shook her head at him,

"I'll be surprised if you aint caught."

Joey tutted at her,

"You severely underestimate your amazing older brother, but nevertheless I still love you and I'll still make sure that little Det comes with me like a good olde brother should."

Minutes later an engine purred in front of the house, a door shut, and the ladder was put back in place allowing first TJ, then Joey to get down,

"See what did I tell ya?" Joey joked as he stepped on to the top rung, gave his sister a kiss on the cheek, and grinned at her while she tried to wipe it away, "you'll miss me and you know it. Now don't forget the advice I gave, though I did truth to be told, but it was probably good. I'll take little Det home so you don't worry about him too much."

Spinelli snorted at him before saying,

"I'd feel more worried about him driving with a bunch of convicts if I was gonna be worried. But you do know he lives on this block."

Joey shook his head,

"Your adorable when your shy," he said patting her on the head, "don't forget to visit me from time to time before my sentence is over, only a few more years to go if I'm not caught. I know you miss me so I'll send some letter's your way, you old softy. But for now little Det and I need to have a bit of a conversation."

He winked at his sister as he climbed down and headed for the car, tapping TJ's shoulder and pointing to the car. Spinelli scowled as she watched her brother put one arm around TJ in a friendly way and the two begin to speak. She waved her fist into the air outside the window (though after what had just happened to her not so long ago her hand was gripping the sill on the inside) as she said,

"Wait! What exactly do you need to talk with him about that you couldn't say in front of me?!" Spinelli yelled at them, not caring if her parents did wake up at that noise at the moment.

TJ was to dazed out in his own thoughts to realize that she was speaking as he got into the car, and Joey (unhelpfully) smirked and winked at Spinelli before he got into the car next to him. The last thing she saw of Joey was his jaws flapping in TJ's direction. She knew that nothing good could come of a conversation between those two.

The two in question had a very interesting conversation as they sat in the car before Joey let TJ go inside and the two convicts left heading in the direction of their current hideout.

Spinelli, meanwhile, couldn't imagine the conversation that they might have even as she settled herself into bed. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep with a lot of things on her mind.

Sometimes an hour or so later Flo Spinelli got up to use the bathroom and decided to see how Spinelli was doing. She walked into the room, fixed the blanket on her little girl, looked at her fondly and then got up to head back to bed when she found nothing a miss. At least nothing was until she paused to look on top of one of Spinelli's dressers, her head cocked to the side as she said to herself,

"Huh where did that silver vase get to?" She looked around the dresser before shrugging, "oh well."

Then she headed back to her bed to finish sleeping. Similarly, Bob Spinelli would wake up the next day to mow the lawn only to find a barbell laying on the grass. But it didn't take him any time at all to figure out who that culprit was.


	19. Chapter 19: Car Talk

(Sorry this was so slow in coming and it's but I had a lot of things on my plate (including college, student teaching, work, and a sprained wrist), so for the time being my updates may be slow but I will get to them when I can. Thank you for your patience. Oh and twistedsister emogirl I was really happy about your comment ^^ I appreciate it. To all of my reviewers who like this story thank you J )

19

TJ wasn't sure what Joey could possibly want to talk with him about as they drove literally four houses down. Joey had immediately sat next to him in the car and starting talking to him about wanting to talk to him. TJ tried to wait patiently as they stopped in front of his house, but he really didn't have to wait long at all.

The minute they were in front of the house Joey leaned back in the seat and said to his driver friend,

"Yo Weevil take a walk."

Weevil turned around with a bit of a scowl,

"You got to be kidding me Joey, I came all the way here to pick you up, picked up a ladder, dropped off a kid, and now you want me to go take a walk so that you can have a conversation with a third grader?"

"Fourth Grader." TJ corrected.

Joey stared at his friend hard,

"I said take a walk Weevil, now."

Weevil huffed before undoing his seatbelt and getting out of the car. He closed the door and grumbled as he headed down the block. Once Weevil was out of hearing distance Joey turned to look at TJ.

"So what happened to make my sister turn bad? Was it something you did?"

TJ let out a sigh as he looked out of the car window,

"I honestly don't know. I thought everything was going like normal. It was one of her bad days yeah but she usually gets better after breaking some things or doing something artistic. But this time she ended up talking to Skeens and then-"

"Skeens, yes I've been hearing that name rather frequently, he was the other guy drawn on her wall." Joey interrupted in thought.

TJ paused in what he was about to say blinking,

"What did you say?"

Joey smirked slightly and leaned back in his seat before continuing,

"I thought you were more observant than that. When I was in Ash's room I noticed that she drew a picture of you and one of the other guy. In fact I swiped his for reference," The young miscreant commented as he fished the crumpled picture from his pocket to demonstrate, "yours should still be up on the wall."

TJ looked down at the picture and frowned,

"What is she drawing him for?"

"See now that's where we are different if I were you I'd be more interested in why she was drawing me eh but your young it'll take you a while to figure it out. Anyway she said she put it up to help her pick a group, but it seems to me she's picking a guy."

TJ frowned,

"What are you trying to say?"

Joey surveyed him for a moment,

"All I'm saying is that whether Spinelli goes back to your group or not is up to you."

TJ sat for a minute staring down at the picture as he tried to wrap his mind around what Joey was saying. Somewhere deep down he knew the convict was right but he wasn't ready to dig deep into what Spinelli's brother was implying. He couldn't handle those thoughts just yet. His grip tightened on the picture as he considered the alternative. No matter what he wasn't going to let Skeens have her at any rate.

Joey, who had been watching TJ's expressions for clues, flicked TJ's forehead before grabbing the picture and putting it away,

"Hands off I have plans for this picture and I can't fulfill them if you rip it."

TJ shook his head still deep in thought but after a few more seconds he said,

"I'm not going to let him…them have Spinelli so I'm going to do what I have to do to get her back."

Joey chuckled,

"Wise decision I knew I picked the right guy for my dear sister."

TJ ignored the statement as his brain went into overdrive with plans. He had to get in contact with Gretchen and Knarf immediately even if it was a little late for house calls, luckily he had his own ways of communicating with them that none of their parents knew about. He had too much to do to waste his time sitting in the car. But as he opened the car door he felt himself being dragged back and yelped,

"What Joey I've got a lot of work to do?" TJ asked with his legs dangling out of the car, his rump on the floor, and his upper half pressed against the seat.

"Cool your britches little Det I just thought that you might need a little insider information and boy do I have a trump card for you…" Joey said.

By the time Joey was gone TJ had a rather large grin on his face despite being rather tired from the night events. Joey had left about as quickly as he had come after having given TJ some pointers and stories that still made him chuckle. TJ hoped that Joey was being truthful about returning to jail right away so that the guy didn't get caught. TJ wasn't sure whether to believe him or not but quite honestly he had bigger problems to deal with.

TJ snuck quietly back into his room and began mapping out an initial plan. Once that was done he contacted Knarf,

"Hey Knarf it's me JT I know it's late but I've got a favor to ask of you. I need you to find me a good artist, yeah here's what I need from them…"

By the time he was done TJ fell straight asleep, he'd need as many hours as he could get to pull off his latest plans, luckily he had the weekend to get everything together. Spinelli wouldn't know what hit her, but if TJ got his own way Skeens would.


	20. Chapter 20: TJ's Plan Phase 1 Pt A

20

Spinelli had never really understood the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' until this point in her life. Obviously the poor cat had been put in a similar situation in which they were not able to figure out something in particular for a while until they cracked. Something like why their older brother would turn on them and what they might possibly have to say to her ex-best friend who she'd recently found out she had been made to marry as a toddler.

Throughout the entire weekend she had wracked her brain for an answer to that question as a matter of fact, even over what many people might find the more important question that she had to begin with as far as the groups were concerned.

Spinelli wondered why adults always acted like children didn't have any problems. No one seemed to take children seriously which she just couldn't understand. Hadn't they been kids before? They should in theory be more sympathetic to the trials and tribulations of the average fourth grader. Being a kid was tough.

Not that Spinelli was in any way an average child. This could be proven by countless occurrences in the young girls life, most currently the fact that she was absentmindedly holding her bicycle with one hand as she walked to school. It was a rather odd thing to do but it made sense to the spunky fourth grader because it was only half way that she decided to get off of her bike to give herself more time to think while moving. If she rode her bicycle the whole way then it would take at least half of her thinking time away.

As it was the girl had left for school earlier than normal. Despite the few bad points she would have taken away for being early she just couldn't take not knowing. Most of her original plans seemed to have jumped out the window about the same time her brother did. Now instead of avoiding TJ she was going to have to confront him first, find out what obviously horrifying information Joey had given him, and then run for dear life before she let him talk her out of her previous decision. She knew that if she spent to long on TJ's presence she'd likely give in and at the moment she wanted to make up her own mind on which group to keep if any. She really didn't want to keep being considered TJ's lap dog either way, so she figured it would help if she started making more of her own decisions, even those that didn't include pounding kids into next week.

Feeling rather stressed Spinelli put her bike down and locked it up in her regular spot. She yawned, a nearly silent giveaway that her mind had been constantly on the move. She had been getting less and less sleep lately and it was beginning to wear thin on her nerves. It certainly was starting to show anyway. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and hopefully wake up, Spin made her way over to the front of the school building. She was about to enter when suddenly she heard a familiar voice calling her name from behind,

"Spin! Spin wait up I got something for you!" the boy shouted.

Spinelli felt that her eyes were about to fall out of her head at TJ's unexpected appearance. TJ had always been an odd one ever since the first time she had met him. Spin was still trying to figure out whether he was unexceptionally brave or if he lacked some common sense. Her opinion was beginning to change daily.

"Spin," TJ said half breathlessly as he stood before her taking advantage of her surprise at his latest tactic of surprise, "I'm glad I caught you."

Ashley Spinelli stared blankly at TJ as he pulled a paper out of his backpack and handed it to her. She continued to stare forward at him still surprised and slightly wary of what it might be. She didn't so much as glance at it until TJ began to lightly nudge her with his elbow,

"You gonna look at it or just stand there all day? Last time I checked Skeens didn't have your vocal cords." He attempted to joke lightly.

Spinelli scowled at him but at least she had snapped out of her stupor. She decided to ignore him so that she could figure out what he'd given her. The paper was either upside down or he'd given her a blank sheet. Since she wasn't one for metaphor's she checked the other side and was relieved to find a picture there. Her relief didn't last too much longer when she took a good look at it.

"Teej-ay what is this?" she asked him skeptically as she held it up for him to see.

TJ grinned,

"Well that's obvious Spin it's a picture of me."

Spinelli pressed one finger to her temple and rubbed it in exasperation,

"And why on earth would you give me a picture of yourself?"

The boyish grin was at it's brightest as he looked back at her,

"I heard you had a choice to make. I wanted this one to be the most appealing to you."

Before Spinelli could respond to this odd comment TJ quickly added,

"I'd love to chat but I've got to run the gangs waiting for me. Don't forget we're your favorites. See you in class Spin."

He saluted her before racing into the school building and half skidding down the hall. Spinelli found herself staring after him still in shock until he was out of sight. She slowly drew her gaze back to the picture, which was indeed a very good rendering. It was also accentuated by the bright colors of TJ's infamous red hat, his roguish grin, and a hint of the mischievous twinkle of his eyes. Everything was vibrant, bright, and eye-catching. Quite frankly she instantly wondered who did the actual drawing. As his best friend, Spinelli knew that TJ's greatest art piece included stick figures and squiggly lines, it wasn't this well done.

She shook her head as she walked to her locker and put the drawing in. If she hadn't had second thoughts about the whole bad girl thing then she'd have had to rip it up in front of him to get TJ to give up. As it was she was having mixed feelings on what she should have done.

Head pressed against the locker she took a deep breath as her mind began racing again. Spin wondered what TJ had meant by the statement, _'I heard you had a choice to make. I wanted this one to be the most appealing to you.'_ The statement made her nervous for some reason. What was the boy getting at? And did this sudden change in attitude have to do with a certain talk he had with her brother on Friday?

Spinelli was so done with this whole situation. It was all too dramatic for her to continue to take. She wondered if she could convince her parents to move away so she could just start over at a new school. She wasn't quite sure how it happened but suddenly she found herself banging her head repeatedly against the lockers. Maybe if she hit her head just right she could get amnesia and forget that any of this had ever happened.


	21. Chapter 21: TJ's Plan Phase 1 Part B

Chapter 21: TJ's Plan Phase 1 ~ Part B

"Alright guys listen up because I've got a plan and it's a rather elaborate one. I don't think I'll be giving you guys all of the details but I will be needing your help on this. Thanks to a recent talk with someone very close to Spin I have found that I have an ace up my sleeve. This plan just may be my biggest one yet, but do not fear if all goes well we will have our spunky Spinelli back in no time." TJ announced to the group as they sat at lunch.

Vince looked around warily checking for anyone from Skeens group, the Ashleys, or Randall for that matter, just in case. When he was satisfied that there were no spies he turned back to TJ and said,

"What are you saying Teej and are you sure that this is a good place to discuss secretive plans?"

TJ grinned as he took a bite from his sandwich and waved the other half around as he spoke,

"This is the perfect place to talk Vince, the other kids are too wrapped up in their own talk to listen to ours and anyway it has to be now because there will be no other time to inform you since I have to continue with Phase 1 of the plan this very period. See look right there-" TJ said pointing to where Spinelli was sitting surrounded by Skeens group as they guffawed and threw food at the tables around them, messing with many a lunch.

Spinelli was ignoring the lot of them as she leaned on one hand propping her head up and played with her food with the other. Skeens, who sat directly across from her, was watching her carefully and talking to her gently about something or other as she answered with nods and the shake of her head.

"Skeens has got no idea what's coming and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible." TJ commented as the others looked back at him quizzically.

"That's all very well TJ but what is this new plan of yours?" Gretchen said finding it difficult to be patient at the moment considering the fact that she was the only female member of the group currently, which made it so that rumors were spreading that Gretchen had stolen TJ from Spinelli, being, of course, the reason that Spinelli had turned bad.

While any informed person would know that this scenario was preposterous since Gretchen was not attracted by any of the members of their group, it was one rumor that the girl really couldn't take. Gretchen hated to have her character besmirched by such a hypothesis, especially one without any data or evidence with which to back it up. Kids, she found, could be so irrational sometimes.

"I was just getting to that." TJ said conspiratorially as he leaned in, the others followed, and he whispered the majority of his plan to the listening audience.

When he was done all of the members leaned back so that they sat in their original spaces all with wide eyes.

"And if that doesn't work I'm going to have to use my secret weapon, though I want to save that as a last resort." TJ finished proudly.

"What secret weapon?" Gretchen questioned fascinated by TJ's latest method.

"I don't really want to say since I'm hoping I wont have to use it." TJ said blushing as he thought of it.

Vince seeing this saved his friends by saying,

"Are you sure about this method Teej? It's definitely going to make people talk."

Vince knew that more rumors would go around if TJ followed through and he was worried that it might make matters worse.

"Frankly Vince I don't care what kids say about me as long as we get our friend back. Friends are always more important then reputations," TJ answered back with a smile, "still I hope they don't get too bad because Spin will definitely blame me for it."

There was a brief silence before TJ looked up at the clock and then stood up,

"Well I had better continue with phase one before lunch is over." He commented before he winked at them and then headed over to Skeens group stopping just in front of Skeens and Spinelli as they both looked up.

Once again Spinelli looked surprised by his sudden appearance. Gretchen watched with wide eyes herself before looking over at Vince and saying,

"Has TJ lost his mind?"

Vince eyed TJ as the other boy handed Spinelli her favorite candy and Skeens glared up at the other boy looking at him angrily,

"I think he's lost some part of him but I don't believe it's his brain."

Gretchen's eyebrow rose as she consider this while Mikey began writing poetry and Gus's mouth still hung open in disbelief.

"Sometimes Vince I feel that you are smarter than I am when it comes to emotional intelligence."

"Nah it's only because I know Teej so well. No need to fear you'll always be the brain in this group." Vince answered and Gretchen appreciated the statement very much though she wasn't sure if it was completely true or not.

Meanwhile, they both turned to watch TJ acting very strangely. Currently he was in the middle of pushing Skeens over to sit across from a still very confused Spinelli. Skeens resisted as much as he could, but soon he was pushed over and Lazy Kid fell off of the other end. This didn't cause much commotion however, because the recently fallen boy merely curled up into the fetal position and went to sleep finding the floor to be a more comfortable alternative to the bench and table.

"Any chance that this craziness gets resolved within the week?" Vince asked Gretchen hopefully.

"Doubtful Vince, very doubtful." Gretchen said biting the bottom of her lip.

It seemed like this time TJ wasn't the only one in the group that needed to come up with a plan.


	22. Chapter 22: Skeen’s Suspicions

Chapter 22: Skeen's Suspicions

Despite what many people and kids around school said about Skeens the boy was not an idiot. In fact, in certain fields and situations he was very intelligent. He was perhaps not book smart like Gretchen Grundler, but he was street smart and that was enough to know that Detweiler was up to something. Skeens was well aware of the type of guy that TJ was. He knew, that despite any previous panic TJ seemed to have had and anger he'd shown, eventually the boy would wise up and make a plan. Skeens had known this all along and yet he never thought that Detweiler would react so quickly and he was a bit unsure of what route TJ was taking.

Skeens had paid very close attention to TJ's actions and Spinelli's reactions to them. As far as he'd seen TJ hadn't done much of anything except try to get Spinelli's attention, annoy Skeens, and give Spinelli some kind of candy. Spinelli hadn't reacted much except to look shocked and confused as TJ did these things. In an attempt to get him to stop acting crazy she even made a showing towards the end of lunch of throwing out the candy rather than eating it. Skeens had been rather happy about that fact until later on when Spinelli had sent their group ahead of her and the rest of the kids had already left the lunchroom Skeens had spotted her retrieving it from the trash can that TJ had thrown it in. Needless to say he was not happy about it.

Of course, he rationalized, it could have been that she fished it out because she liked that particular candy and didn't want to waste it. She did after all make a public showing of getting rid of it. And it wasn't like she was sitting with TJ's group or anything. He felt that he should be happy that she was sitting and talking with him rather than Detweiler. And yet…he felt that something was off somehow. Despite his queens grand entrance to being bad she hadn't done much else since then. Skipping some classes, showing up late to school, and glaring at most of the students around her really didn't count for all that much. It certainly wasn't likely to keep her under the label of bad for too much longer before people began to forget her wonderful, hostile, and brief takeover of the playground.

He couldn't understand how she could stop after that. She'd reached so high in his esteem and had done so much that it was almost disappointing that she didn't continue her wrath and reign. Of course he didn't necessarily think that she had to rule the playground in King Bob's stead but he did expect her to rule it with an iron fist. To look as beautiful and powerful as she did to him from a top the playground. The venue did not matter to him as much as the actions.

In Spinelli's darker moments Skeens saw beauty and danger and art. She was like the model for his painting, his art reflected her moods, actions, and movements. While she did nothing his canvas stood empty and blank, but the minute she moved the images came to life and the paints practically spread themselves across the canvas. He could not afford to lose his muse. And so Skeens decided that it was time that he did a little digging in order to further assess the situation.

With this in mind Skeens waited until after dark before sneaking into the school in an attempt to find evidence or something that might led him to information. He had done this before so it was easy to pick the lock on the door at the side of the school building, not many people knew about the location so the majority figured that it would be safe with just the one chain and two locks. Those people did not take Skeens and kids like him into account. Though truth to tell Skeens was unlikely to cause much trouble for the school after hours, except for the occasional drop in to spray paint a wall, Skeens liked to keep his trouble making to school hours. This was because he referred to school hours as business hours and he felt that even troublemakers needed a break after school. But today he'd make an exception because there was an important job to do.

Once he was officially in the school Skeens quickly made his way over to the main hall. Glancing around to make sure that no janitors or security guards were coming, Skeens felt in his bag for his flashlight. Creeping silently he looked up and was glad to see that the cameras weren't moving like they did in the day, meaning that the school didn't seem to think that they needed to keep the cameras going 24 hours a day for some reason. He was happy about that as it meant less work for him.

Skeens clicked the flashlight on as he began scanning the metal locker doors in the hall searching for the right numbers. There were two lockers specifically that he had in mind to check for the time being. The first one he found only after a bit of a search. Skeens fixed his gloves in place before taking out his tools of the trade and working on the lock. He had to concentrate on doing the job just right so that he didn't break the lock or the locker since that was not his intention.

Once he managed to get the locker open he did his best to memorize the organization (or lack thereof as it were) before he began to search through it. Skeens was not happy when his thorough search of TJ Detweiler's in school possessions gave him no indication of the boys plans. In fact, other than Detweiler's school books all that really was in the locker was a baseball, a baseball glove, an unidentifiable gooey substance, and a bunch of notebook pages of stick figures (which Skeens would have laughed at had the boy ever claimed such figures as being art). None of these things helped Skeens figure out TJ's plan and so he closed up that locker and head to the other locker that he had in mind.

The second and last locker that he had in mind took more time and courage to open then the last had. This was because the locker he was working on now was one in which if he was found out would likely get him into trouble with his muse, not to mention it would also affect his physical well being. This was because this was the locker of none other than the rebel queen herself, Ashley Spinelli.

Skeen's hand shook a little once he had finished putting in her combination, which he had picked up by paying close attention when she was opening it herself, which had been a bit hard to do since he had to pretend that he wasn't looking every time she turned her head or talked to him during. He was grateful that he didn't have to pick this lock since it would be more risky that way, but it was a marginal comfort to his worries.

Once Skeens had put in the code he took a bit of a breath before opening the locker. The minute he did a paper flew out at him, likely drawn out by the whoosh of air one often felt for a second when opening their lockers. He blinked in surprise nonetheless before squatting down and picking it up off the floor where it had landed. Turning it over his eyebrows sprang up at the same time that his eyes widened. There as plain as day was a drawing of TJ Detweiler and Skeens mind wheeled as he tried to figure out a plausible explanation for why Spinelli would have this in her locker.

Skeens stood for a moment analyzing the drawing from an artistic point of view. His eyes roamed the paper in a quick scan before he went back and slowly followed the details of the drawing. Once he had identified the artistic techniques, contours, and styles he decided that it wasn't Spinelli's work. And judging from the "artistic style" that Skeens had seen moments ago in TJ's locker, Detweiler certainly hadn't done it himself. Yet Skeens was positive that Spinelli wouldn't have had someone else create TJ when she herself was an artist. An artist created their own work and Skeens knew that Spinelli could have created her own if she had wanted a drawing. Which meant that either this picture was a part of TJ's new found strategy, or it was from a TJ supporter at the very least.

Since Skeens had come by this picture he decided that he would stir things up a bit. So he scrunched up the paper (refusing to rip it up only because it was truly artistic) and put it to the side of him as he sat down on the cold tiled floor of the hall and began drawing a picture of himself. When he was finished he placed his own drawing where TJ's had been and decided not to press his luck by continued searching. So he closed Spinelli's locker door and went back to TJ's.

Skeens reopened TJ's locker and put the crumbled drawing of the boy back there. With any luck TJ would think it had been Spinelli who had crumpled it and sent it back. Skeens figured anything that might separated TJ and Spinelli from each other would be good. He still wasn't quite sure what Detweiler was up to but he did know that he didn't like it and that the bolder TJ got the more outrageous Skeen's own actions would have to be.

Speaking of which, Skeens had his own plan in mind for keeping Spinelli with him. He closed TJ's locker once again and began his second drawing of the night. In this drawing, however another person featured. He spent his time creating his artwork, even making sure to color it properly. When it was done he smirked at it in triumph.

He stood up again, wiping off what may have been imaginary or real dust from his pants but which he'd never know since it was dark. The only light around had come from his flashlight and glow in the dark watch, which until he rose had been steadily aimed at the paper in front of him. Now he used it to navigate himself out of the building. He clicked the flashlight off as he locked the school back up and checked the time. The time on his watch read 9:37 pm, which Skeens made a face at before heading home.

The young boy was not happy about the fact that he was going to need to be getting up very early the next day in order to implement his next idea. There was no one to go to at night for the kind of thing that he needed done so he was going to have to do it bright and early when he knew that it would be possible. A time where a kid could talk to a fellow about some copies. Copies of a drawing that was going to make TJ Detweiler very unhappy, and hopefully the reaction would be worth waking up so early for. At the very least it was bound to make people talk, and since Skeens was an artist, that would be quite an accomplishment in itself. And so Skeens went home and dreamt of all of the possibilities that the next day just might bring. His precious new picture lay on his easel directly across from his bed as if awaiting its début while a light breeze entered through the window rustling the edges of the paper in a light threat.


	23. Chapter 23: New Rumors

Note: Sorry this story is going so slowly, it's been hard for me to find my muse for this story, but to make up for it I'm going to upload two chapters. Chapter 23 and 24 tonight. They are short, but at least they actually exist now. Don't worry I'm literally unable to quit things, so this story will eventually be finished. It's just a matter of how long it will take that's the problem. Thank you all for your support and reviews. Hope you continue to enjoy this story. Happy Holidays all!

_**Chapter 23: New Rumors**_

Spinelli had not been able to sleep very well ever since she had turned "bad" and last night had been no exception. In fact she was pretty sure that her insomnia was getting worse. The stress of deciding between the two groups was too much to handle at the moment and so she'd been tossing and turning all night, and then when she had finally gone to sleep she found no escape in her dreams. Instead she had a nightmare that was a bit foggy in her memory now, but had certainly included TJ and Skeens. But what in her life didn't at the moment?

Needless to say, she was a bit drowsy as she made her way to school. She trudged slowly through the streets, not bothering to kick at stray rocks like she usually did. She was too tired to enjoy that pastime as either "good" or "bad" Spinelli. She didn't even bother to attempt to be late to school or skip anything as she walked on to school premises. Today she wasn't into playing either role that she had given herself over the years. All she wanted to do was get to class and get to sleep. If worse came to worse then she'd cut out early and leave school, since that offer was available to her now that she wasn't worrying about being good now.

Being bad certainly did have some nice benefits, but like anything there were cons to being bad as well. She had never had to work this hard to keep up her reputation when she was good. Then again it was easier to just do whatever she wanted without being looked down on or made to feel badly. No matter what bad thing she did Skeens was able to justify it. In fact, it seemed the worse she behaved the more praise she received from Skeens and it certainly had helped keep up her tough reputation. At least it helped keep up something closer to her old reputation than being a goody-two-shoes with TJ and company.

Though Spinelli had to admit she certainly had some fun times with her old crew. It wasn't all perfect behavior after all. She'd done some things that were kind of bad, like turning forward the class clock to get early recess, or stealing games and balls from Mrs. Finster's private stash, or generally making Principal Prickly look stupid. But there had always been a reason for those kinds of so called "bad" things. Reasons that a girl could get behind, even someone like her. Turning the clock forward was to give the whole class a break from the monotony of school work for a little while, they only stole the new balls because Mrs. Finster had unjustly, without reason kept them hidden from kids who would have used them for good old fashioned fun and not ruined them or nothin', and making Principal Prickly look stupid was because he went around calling kids brats and hiding out in his office instead of doing his job to make kids enjoy school.

Those reasons had really helped her conscience, and often she had been able to utilize her own skills. Not to mention the friendships she had made. Skeens was fun and fine himself, but the rest of the rebel group, she just didn't like. They were all lazy or disgusting or likely to pick on the weak. Spinelli preferred to fight equals or people larger than herself. Even as a "bad" girl she'd gone after the highest, most protected kid on the playground. That was just her.

Maybe it was…or it had been at the very least.

"I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT! I JUST CAN'T! I DON'T WANNA THINK ANYMORE! EVERYONE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!" Spinelli screamed just outside of the door to school, startling a number of students who froze at her yelling, but when she had stopped the majority of them rushed off, afraid to get in the "Rebel Queen's" way.

Spinelli ignored them, instead punching into the wall of the building before entering. She ignored any and all comments as she opened her locker and immediately noticed that the drawing that TJ had given her. Feeling Panicky for some reason she couldn't explain, Spinelli riffled through her belongings looking for it. She was pretty sure that it hadn't fallen out yesterday, but she didn't think that anyone would have been smart and crazy enough to go through her locker. She personally didn't know anyone who was suicidal enough for that as far as she could tell.

Whatever the case, Spinelli didn't have long enough time to do a truly thorough search as soon Skeens had slipped his arm around her shoulders. Not being one for being touched, Spinelli tried to shake his hold slightly as she put some of her books from her locker into her bag, slammed the locker shut, and glared up at him.

"I'm not in the mood Skeens so get off of me."

Skeens ignored this, instead deciding to distract her,

"I just thought that I would give the kids around here something to talk about since someone started a rumor about us anyway."

"A rumor?" Spinelli questioned warily with one eyebrow raised.

"Yep, apparently kids around here are quite interested in your love life, because now instead of pairing you with Detweiler they've begun pairing you with me. I bet I know who started that rumor…"

Spinelli snarled ignoring his arm in her anger,

"They did WHAT?" she asked eyes narrowing and nostrils flaring.

Skeens handed her a copy of the drawing with a heading of 'Rebel Couple' shown on the top. Anger boiled with in her as she crumpled it up and then squished it under her boots, before stomping up and down on it all the while ignoring Skeens hold on her.

"You think you know who did this? WELL THEN SPILL IT ALREADY, I'LL KILL THEM FOR THIS!"

Skeens let out a little smirk at the corner of his mouth that Spinelli wasn't fond of as he said,

"TJ Detweiler."

"What? Are you crazy Skeens? Why would Teej-ay do something like this? He wants me to be back in the group. This certainly isn't the way to convince me."

"That's just it," Skeens let out smoothly, "a part of the reason that you came to me in the first place is because of the rumors about you and TJ being together. TJ is smart enough to know this, so I think he did this as a way of getting you back."

Spinelli rolled her eyes not taking the bait at the moment,

"Sorry Skeens, but I'm not buying that explanation. TJ isn't that desperate or mean for that matter. But someone did it that's for sure, and when I find him I'll pulverize him." Spinelli said making a fist and cupping it a few times in demonstration.

No sooner had she said this than suddenly Skeens arm was off of hers and she was standing behind TJ. Confused and getting more frustrated by the second, Spinelli opened her mouth to ask what was going on, when she was stopped by an abrupt statement made by TJ. A statement that caused the whole hallway to become silent in an instant, one that caused Spinelli's Eyes to widen tremendously, and unfortunately made her reconsider Skeens theory, after all there were exceptions to every rule and situation.


	24. Chapter 24: TJ's Claim

Note: Chapter 24 as promised.

_**Chapter 24: TJ's Claim**_

TJ Detweiler didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about today. He really hoped that his gut feeling was wrong for once, but he was so used to it being right that he felt it unlikely. Ever since he woke up the feeling was gnawing at him. It followed him while brushing his teeth, eating his breakfast, changing his clothes for school, and even after he put on his lucky hat.

Yet despite his misgivings, TJ still prepared to continue on with his plan. Speaking of which, TJ decided to check his bag to make sure that he had the necessary supplies. He grinned as he confirmed that it was all ready. Knowing this, TJ decided to ignore his nerves and instead rushed to school.

Due to his gut feeling, TJ had been paying very close attention to his stomach and the floor as he headed to his locker. He ignored the whispers around him, watching his stomach and feet as he walked, as if he could stop the feeling if he worked hard enough at it. By the time he had opened his locker, Spinelli had just entered the building. He stared at her entrance for a moment before turning to focus on his locker and take out what he needed. He reached his hand in and found a crumpled up paper. Confused, and curious, TJ opened it up to look at it and let out a gasp. It was the picture of him…did that mean?

Quickly TJ turned to look over at Spinelli, hoping to find his answers on her face or in her eyes. But he didn't quite make it all the way to her face at the moment. This is because a picture on the wall caught his attention. Or rather a row of pictures pasted on the wall had. His mouth opened wide in shock as he walked over and ripped one off of the wall. There before him was a drawing of Skeens and Spinelli with a heading of 'Rebel Couple.' TJ didn't know why, but the feeling in his stomach shifted from discomfort to anger. Maybe it was anger because of the crumpled picture of himself thrown back into his own locker, maybe it was because the picture in his hand seemed to prove Spinelli's new loyalties, or maybe it was for another reason that he couldn't admit to himself, but whatever the case TJ was officially pissed off.

But the real straw that broke the camels back came a few seconds later when he saw Skeens put his arm around Spinelli's shoulder. Whatever the case TJ just couldn't take it anymore and so he crushed the paper in his hand and stomped over to them.

TJ didn't care who was watching or what the repercussions of his actions would be. He could vaguely sense that the other members of his group and Skeens group for that matter somewhere around the crowded hallway, but he ignored them. Instead he grabbed on to Skeens arm and wrenched it off of Spinelli. Then he pulled Spinelli behind him and yelled,

"Get your hands off my wife!"

The entire hall was suddenly filled with silence for a full moment, after all TJ had finally unleashed his secret weapon. Now it would be a matter for King Bob's Court to decide.


	25. Chapter 25: King Bob's Court

Note: So the reviews were so quick and adamant for this story and my muse was still going, so I decided to write up another chapter so that I don't leave you hanging. Lol I hope you like it. I tried not to pull a Scheherazade this time, though I had to keep you guessing a little or else why would you want to come back and continue reading? ^^ Hope you enjoy it and so without further ado:

_**Chapter 25: King Bob's Court**_

Spinelli could not believe this was happening. Never in all of her Eleven years of life she had never been so utterly humiliated, and the worst of it was that it was her own friend who had done it to her. Now here she was sitting in front of the Jungle Gym, with King Bob looming at the top on his precious throne…or rather old beat up lazy boy chair that he used as a throne, ready to supposedly listen to both sides of the story in order to pass judgment on the proceedings. Spinelli had been in a situation similar to this a few months ago, because of Randall and his stupid accusation about her hitting him with a rock during a dirt clod war. TJ had convinced her to testify, against her better judgment, but it had all turned out well in the end. Randall had gotten the swirly for lying and she'd not damaged her rep too much despite saving that kitty from that tree.

Still, Ashley Spinelli was not as enthusiastic about this ruling. Firstly, due to the fact that she was on opposing ends of the trial this time. Spinelli had of course upon hearing TJ's wild announcement, known which end she would be on for this one. The accusation was the worst that she had ever been accused of, and being Spinelli she had been accused of some very heinous things. She was just lucky that this time Gretchen would be working for her rather than against her. King Bob, despite or perhaps because of, obvious loyalties on this case had placed Gretchen on the defense rather than the prosecution.

That brought Spinelli to her second problem with this case, King Bob. He obviously had a score to settle with her and was known for being grateful and fond of TJ, whom he had dubbed 'That Crazy Monkey Boy' a while back. For good reason did he felt this way. Spinelli, having briefly taken over his kingdom, would likely be someone he would want to seek revenge on, while TJ who had helped restore his throne more often than not would certainly be able to ask a favor of the King.

Lastly, Spinelli was not over enthusiastic about this ruling because no matter how much she fought, bullied, or yelled, the kids of the playground would abide by whatever King Bob ruled. Saying that he sided with TJ, Spinelli would of course, and could of course, denounce the ruling. Those who were terrified of her would not saying anything to her face about it. But she could not keep them from thinking it or saying it behind her back. Rumors were a powerful weapon. All it seemed to take was one kid with a big mouth and the playground would believe nearly anything. Even something as ludicrous as Ashley Spinelli being someone's wife at 11 years old.

What really worried her was that TJ claimed that he had evidence of his statement. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what he had yelled in the hallway right after she'd confronted him about it. She had yelled for evidence of his statement and he had said he'd had it with such confidence that even Spinelli, knowing it was impossible, believed him. Skeens had called him a liar and TJ had said,

"_I am not! I have actual proof and witness testimonies that it is true! Spinelli is my wife."_

She couldn't explain how, what, or why, but she was quite nervous that he'd be able to convince the entire playground, while she sat there confused. After all he had managed to get the student body riled up enough to have this court in the end. TJ was a very persuasive boy. Possibly a delusional boy, but a persuasive one.

Speaking of persuasive boys, Spinelli turned to look at Skeens who was brooding at her side behind one end of the picnic table that was serving as the divider between TJ and Skeen's groups, minus Gretchen of course who looked uncomfortable, but professional as she jotted some notes down in her Galileo.

On the opposite end TJ and the rest of her old group sat with ties on their necks. It had been a whole day since the accusation and Spinelli could tell that it was making everyone tense while it stayed unresolved. Since she had turned "bad" Spinelli had not resolved anything and so she was actually a little glad that this was happening so that other people felt pressure besides her, she just wished that the hearing wasn't specifically because of her or involving her. Man if this case didn't go right then she would never hear the end of the TJ, Spinelli rumors.

Spinelli wished that everyone would get a life and seriously stay out of hers. But since that wasn't the case... Spinelli abandoned that thought quickly as she was distracted by the sudden start of the proceedings.

"Hear ye, hear ye. The high court of the playground is now in session. The right, honorable King Bob residing, all rise." Jerome commanded the group.

Everyone followed his instructions, including the rebels and baddies, no one wanting to currently get on King Bob's bad side. He did have power after all and no matter how many school rules were broken, even the bad kids tried to keep some of the basic laws of the playground going. Not Spinelli of course, but she hadn't minded messing with King Bob's rules when she was semi-law abiding. She certainly wasn't interested on the opposite end. But because of the sensitive nature of this case, even Spinelli rose when instructed.

"Yeah, yeah we all know how wonderful I am now hurry it up I want to get to the good part of today's entertainment," King Bob announced waving his hand in demonstration of his want to quicken the pace and get down to action, "Jerome do announce what today is all about so that everyone is filled in, in case anyone is not."

Spinelli glared up at the King, nearly certain that he was doing this purposely to get back at her before Jerome announced,

"Kids of the playground today's trial is the case of Detweiler versus Spinelli…if that is her last name. The prosecution claims that one Ashley Spinelli is actually the wife of TJ Detweiler. The defense states that the prosecution is a liar, liar whose pants should in fact are on fire."

"The prosecution may begin." King Bob said as TJ stood up, prepared to make his case.

"In the Constitution of the Playground, that very same book that we swear upon for trial it states that couples on the playground who are married are expected to stick together. There are not many marriages in these days, as it is a rather old school practice, but this is why if there truly is a marriage then it's laws should be well kept in honor of the kids who have come before us. I submit to you that Spinelli is in fact my wife and I have the proof to back it up. Therefore the first witness that I TJ Detweiler call to the stand is myself! For I am best able to prove this fact.

Spectators quickly began whispering and murmuring as TJ sat on the swing that served the Court of King Bob, and all previous courts mentioned, as the bench. An official looking Sixth Grade Lackey of King Bob's held the 'Constitution of the Playground,' before TJ as he swore him in by asking,

"Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you Bob?"

TJ looked directly into Spinelli's eyes as he placed his hand down and held the other to his heart saying with conviction,

"I do."

Spinelli's mouth opened still in shock as TJ continued.

"I would like to begin my testimony by saying that I never lied to any of you or held back information as far as I knew it. Until a few days ago I did not remember that Spinelli and I were married. A family member of her informed me of this just the other day, a family member who shall remain nameless for their own protection."

Spinelli's eyebrow rose up as she wanted to add, 'Yeah from the real law.' But refrained. She was happy that he had not given her brother up to prove his point, which of course a name of an informant would have cemented his point quite nicely. Still, he was embarrassing her so she could only feel a little grateful to him. The rest of it was anger and stress. She sighed as he continued. It didn't help matters that TJ actually had a legitimate case, unless you count the fact that it wasn't an adult legal marriage. Spinelli wasn't sure what the Playground Constitution considered a real marriage or not, but honestly she didn't like her chances at the moment.

"Whatever the case, I did some sleuth work after finding this out and have come up with undeniable proof that Spinelli and I are actually a married couple. And as my wife she should certainly not be with Skeens, but with me."

Gretchen of course, unable to not do her job even when faced against a friend, could not help herself from rebutting,

"Perhaps you do have proof of something, but it is falsified data. How do we the court know that this documentation that you supposedly have isn't something like a picture of you and the defendant playing house or something? Marriage is certainly more strict then game playing."

"Ah, but my evidence is more than you think. I have evidence from the Spinelli family as well as my own. When I found out this information I immediately began an investigation. I found this in my house." TJ stated as he took out a picture and slapped it into Gretchen's hand, who in turn handed it to one of the 6th Graders, who brought it up to King Bob to look at.

Spinelli tried to get as good a look at the picture as she could manage, but it seemed to be a no go at the moment. She wasn't sure she really wanted to see it mind you, but it was sort of necessary so that her imagination didn't run away with her and so that she could figure out what evidence TJ thought was good enough to go to court with. Whatever the case she hoped there was some reasonable explanation or available denial to it. Luckily TJ would not leave her waiting long for an answer,

"The evidence, as you can see King Bob, is a picture of our wedding ceremony. Spin and I haven't really changed much since so you can tell who we are, can't you?" TJ asked.

King Bob nodded,

"Yes, this is quite clearly Monkey Boy and Girl Who Runs With Fists. Although her attire is rather shocking, though I guess that's just because I've never seen her with that many frills. Still, it is sufficient photograph evidence of your union. Still, please do go on."

TJ nodded,

"Yes, your highness. The other piece of evidence is this," he said as he took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed that over as well, "This is a signed note from Spinelli's own parents admitting that we have been married."

The collective group gasped, including Spinelli who was feeling someone confused and betrayed by the note. Had TJ made that part up for dramatic affect or was it the truth?

King Bob seemed curious himself as he read the note. When he seemed to be finished Gretchen, clearly disbelievingly called,

"Menlo find me a permission slip from Spinelli's parents so that I can test the handwriting and King Bob can attest to the similarity or difference of the styles of handwriting."

Menlo immediately nodded and rushed off to perform his duty while King Bob queried,

"I can? Oh yes of course I can, I am after all your great and mighty ruler. I shall perform this task without hesitation!" he called the last part to distract the others from his first slip up.

Menlo came back as quickly as he could manage since he often worked more in paperwork then on his feet. He handed the permission slip to King Bob who instantly worked to analyze the documents.

"This note is not a forgery, however, to guarantee that things stay fair I will accept a second opinion. Jerome?" King Bob commented handing the documents to one of his trusty sidekicks.

Jerome nodded,

"Yes my liege." He commented as he looked over the papers, "It appears to be the same handwriting to me."

"Then let it be added to the records that TJ Detweiler, aka Monkey boy, has given us sufficient proof of his marriage to Ashley Spinelli. Does the defendant care to speak up against this union even with the knowledge of the evidence and under oath of the Court of King Bob?"

"Yes, your honor I do care to speak." Spinelli said rising from her seat and walking until she was in front of TJ at the swing…er bench.

TJ looked up at Spinelli wondering her angle as the girl stared at him straight in the eyes,

"I can't believe that you brought my parents in on this, really Teej that's a bit low," Spinelli mumbled to him before looking up at King Bob, "No need for me to swear on a stack of rules, we all know that I don't follow them. Instead I'll do you one better and swear by my rep that I won't lie. That okay by you Bob?"

King Bob nodded slightly intrigued by the slight twist, even if it was only a minor one.

"The evidence against me is real. Sneakily acquired, but real non-the-less, however, I can't be considered TJ's wife because it wasn't a real wedding. It was something my mom made me due because my brother wanted cake…or something like that anyway. There was no real priest so it wasn't a real marriage, and that is that."

King Bob considered this for a moment before speaking,

"It may not be a real marriage in the eyes of adults, but it is a legal playground marriage, since you actually went through with the ceremony. Of course there is one stipulation even to that affect that could prove that the marriage is false or true."

"And what's that your highness?" Gretchen asked.

"Did you ever seal the deal with a kiss?" King Bob questioned.

Spinelli grinned suddenly feeling that this case was in the bag at that,

"Nope, we hugged at the ceremony."

"Hmmm you seem to remember the ceremony awfully well considering you are so against associating yourself as Monkey boy's wife."

Spinelli's eyes narrowed even as TJ began losing hope despite King Bob's observance.

"I remember what I need to alright? Just make your ruling Bob."

"Wait! Don't rule yet, Spinelli and TJ did seal the deal with a kiss!" Vince said waving a piece of paper in the air.

Everyone gasped as Spinelli clenched her hand into fists,

"No we didn't, you calling me a kisser and a liar Vin? I oughta punch you straight in the gut for a thing like that."

"But it's true and the entire playground was a witness to it. Don't you guys remember this?" Vince asked as he held up a picture of Spinelli and TJ kissing.

The 'Kiss' itself had been an Experiment in order to see if Girls and Boys would ever really like kissing each other. Vince and the others had a scare about that one some months back and had drawn straws to decide who went. TJ and Spinelli had gotten the short end of the stick, quite literally, and so they had been forced to kiss. The whole playground found out about it and eventually the two had given up trying to be secretive and just gotten the job done. But though it was forced a kiss was still a kiss and Vince was banking on that fact.

Spinelli turned bright red as she grabbed the picture and ripped it up. She wished that Skeens had tempted her away from the group during that episode for sure. Spinelli never thought that she'd live that one down. She hoped, but didn't believe. Worst off she couldn't deny it or cover it up, everyone was a witness.

"That wasn't at the ceremony that was years later and for an experiment. I was forced, I didn't choose it." Spinelli argued.

"Never-the-less it did seal the deal. As it is there are rules on the playground about kissing. That alone is grounds enough for TJ or you to have requested a marriage of me, to dull the shame. But since neither of you came to me I let it go. But with evidence of marriage the kiss seals it. Therefore my decision is an easy one. Girl Who Runs With Fists…or rather Girl Who Talks With Fists I should call you, you are hereby and henceforth to be recognized as the wife of Monkey boy, TJ Detweiler. Those of the playground will view you as married and treat you as such. The same goes for you Monkey boy. Both of you are expected to at the very least sit next to each other at lunch, walk each other to class, and spend a minimum of 15 minutes together at Recess each day. You will share lunches and do married couple-y kind of stuff, henceforth and so on. If you do not abide by these rules then you shall be found, humiliated, and cast out by playground society, or else wise punished by me. Court Adjourned."

With that decree King Bob rose from his throne and stalked away. Recess was over, so many of the kids headed back to their classes. Spinelli though needed a minute to compose herself as all the blood seemed to have drained from her face. She had never been so embarrassed in her entire life and there was no way that she would ever live this one down. Her rep took a serious hit with this ruling.

Skeens hadn't stuck around past the verdict. Spinelli figured he was off creating art somewhere. She hadn't paid attention to him or seen him leave so she supposed it could have been rather early on in the trial. After all he was not one for convention and it wasn't his trial after all. Still it annoyed Spinelli that he hadn't stayed around or tried to help at all. But what could she expect from a bad boy, except bad behavior?

She hadn't expected that the good kid though would have pulled such a sneaky stunt on her. Either TJ was suicidal or desperate. That was Spinelli's only guess as the red capped boy walked over to her and grinned a little asking cheekily,

"Walk you to class?"

Spinelli's nostril rose as she answered in proper Spinelli fashion,

"What makes you so sure you'll be able to walk once I get done dealing with you TJ Detweiler?" With that said Spinelli began to walk on her own way to class.

TJ sped up to walk with her as he said,

"Just a hunch. Besides you don't want to be a widow so soon after marriage do you?"

"I wanted to be widowed before marriage, you clearly do not fear death." Spinelli argued trying to lose him by rushing, but it was hard to look cool, calm, and collective at a dead run. So she merely dealt with making him keep up with her quick walking as opposed to an all out track meet.

"You won't bump me off this early, too obvious when it comes to trial. If you were going to kill me you'd have gone along with the marriage thing from the beginning in order to off me sooner so I'll take my chances." TJ retaliated.

"Don't overestimate my patience Teej, I've got less of it then you'd even think I would. Just stop talking if you're determined to follow court orders." Spinelli said beginning to make her movements sporadic in hopes of confusing him and causing him to walk into something or stop following her.

"Yes, dear." TJ teased, right before he hit into the school door, which Spinelli had 'kindly' slammed shut behind herself at his statement.

Clearly it was going to be an interesting marriage to say the least.


	26. Chapter 26: Marriage Kills

**Author's Note**_**: **_**So it's been a while, but like I said I always start what I finish. So for those of you that are still sticking it though I hope you like this next chapter. Hope the next one doesn't take as long to write! –fingers crossed- Lol It will probably be a shorter wait if I keep watching Recess episodes and/or am inspired by Reviews. Well here it goes.**

_**Chapter 26: Marriage Kills**_

TJ knew that technically he had won for the time being. Spinelli was back in his group, at least for lunch and half of recess, where it really mattered. Also, though he wouldn't admit it to anyone in case they thought he was going soft or crazy, he was kind of amused by how Spinelli was freaking out every time she was teased about being his wife. TJ, who was smart enough to know that the more embarrassed you acted the more people teased you, had taken it all in stride, surprising other members of the playground by answering their taunts of, 'Look it's TJ Spinelli," with nods and waves. Eventually those kids had given up trying to get to him, figuring it to be impossible, and instead focused on Spinelli the weakest link.

The first time some kid had dared to call her 'Spinelli Detweiler,' TJ's wife had promptly punched him in the gut. But that was nothing compared to what she did when one either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave kid wished, 'Ashley Detweiler' luck on her marriage. That kid had been rushed to the nurse's office when Spinelli had 'thanked' him by knocking out his two front baby teeth.

Though this kind of behavior probably would have disturbed many other boys, TJ found that he had missed her rough manner when she had been gone from them. And though normally he'd give her a speech about only hitting people who really deserved it, he could not help but give her the benefit of the doubt on this one simply because those kids had been trying to mess with her. Since they weren't innocent TJ didn't feel the need to defend them or talk to Spinelli. Besides it's was kind of cute when she-

TJ paused mid-thought his eyes widening as he shook his head to clear it of such traitorous thoughts. His cheeks tinted pink as he glanced nervously over at Spinelli, hoping against all hope that she hadn't caught him. As if Spinelli could read minds.

He let out a relieved breath of fresh air as Spinelli only then started looking at him in confused and funny manner. Of course, before he had gotten her full attention, she seemed to have been trying to practice for the military, or so TJ thought she was, since she had been looking straight in front of her for twelve entire minutes at the playground. TJ couldn't tell whether that was because she was still mad about yesterday's verdict or because after being away from the group for so long, by kid standards, she had forgotten how to act around them. Though TJ mused, it was probably more because she didn't want to, or know how to act like a wife.

Spinelli went back to ignoring his existence, as she stared down at the floor this time as if trying to communicate with the dirt on the blacktop. TJ decided that since teasing was being done, and their mandated time was almost up, he would try a bit of teasing of his own, after all he didn't mean anything right? If you don't like a girl in that way then it should be easy to joke around with her. Of course, that had to be the case.

Inching closer to Spinelli, TJ tapped her on the arm, causing the girl to jump a good three feet into the air and then look at him with wide eyes, which quickly turned into a suspicious half-glare.

"Spinelli?" TJ questioned, trying to look deep into her eyes as he spoke.

Spinelli leaned back a little trying to add some distance before furrowing her eyebrows and snapping,

"What?"

"Thank you for marrying me." TJ said, trying very hard not to snicker at Spinelli's horror stricken face.

Spinelli, for her part, moved back a few inches physically, before glaring at him darkly and then punching him in the chest. TJ, somehow surprised, began to rub at the spot that she had punched in fascination as she began yelling at him,

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT YOU CRAZY PERSON! WE WERE YOUNG AND MY BROTHER WANTED CAKE AND MY PARENTS WERE INTO IT, SO IT HAPPENED. OKAY? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY? I DIDN'T DO NOTHIN'! I AIN'T NEVER GETTIN' MARRIED WITH NOBODY SO QUIT IT!"

TJ found himself taking a step back from her, but feeling mixed emotions. On one hand he was still amused by her behavior, on the other his chest was now hurting and he was a bit annoyed that she was overacting so much to being with him. Was he that bad to hang out with? It wasn't like he smelled for recess's sake,

"Woah, relax there Spinelli. You and I both know that we aren't really married, and anyway even if we were really married, what's so bad about me, huh? We go way back to diaper years. It wouldn't be so crazy if one day we decided, hey we gotta get married some day, and just ended up together. I mean if, and I'm not saying this will happen, but if we ever do decide to become adults for some crazy reason or other, we gotta make a family. You know get married, have kids, get jobs that kind of thing. Isn't it better to get through those kind of hardships together?" TJ questioned.

Spinelli turned somewhat pale, before shaking her head, and covering up her momentary…fear? She replaced whatever that fearful seeming look was with angry eyes and shaky fists,

"ARE YOU CRAZY TEEJ?" She huffed for a second trying to reduce her anger before in a much quieter voice saying, "I don't get what's going on with you lately Detweiler. You keep commenting about how much _I_ changed, well I'd like to point out that you might as well point that annoying finger of yours at yourself. Why is it that I can't change without a stupid court case, but you can go all mushy without any consequences? It must be great to be you." Spinelli said with a sneer, obviously feeling strongly on this.

TJ considered this for a moment before shaking his head and then shrugging,

"Honestly, I haven't really changed much. Maybe you just think I have because you've changed a bunch, but actually if I'm acting any different now it's because of you," He threw his hands up into the air, in a gesture of peace before Spinelli could deck him for such a comment, "I'm not trying to blame you for anything, I'm just letting you know that my changes, if there really are any, are because of the group fight and you leaving."

TJ watched as Spinelli seemed to be having an inner war with herself. While still finding some entertainment in her actions, as the minutes passed in this awkward situation, he found himself feeling more and more pressure to fix this situation. So, instead of allowing the conversation to continue on a serious note, even if it did end up fixing anything, TJ decided to try to lighten the mood by saying,

"So about kids, how many do you want? Because I was thinking three…"

His comedy however did not get him very far, because no sooner had he made his joke, then Spinelli had kicked him in the knee. TJ grabbed his knee, hopping on one leg due to the fact that Spinelli not only had a very good kick, but she had combat boots to back it up with.

For her own part Spinelli glared at him before saying,

"IT'S BEEN 17 MINUTES I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS ANYMORE DURING THIS RECESS! I CAN'T BELIEVE I LET YOU STEAL TWO EXTRA MINUTES FROM ME IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND NEXT TIME YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT SPEAKING TO ME ABOUT KIDS, REMEMBER THAT I CAN AIM AND IF I SO MUCH AS SEE A STORK I'LL RIP IT'S WINGS OFF AND FEED THEM TO YOU FOR DINNER!"

TJ might later claim that it was insanity, but he couldn't help but add, even in his bruised and pained state,

"Uh, does that mean that you plan to cook for me, dear?"

Spinelli growled and pushed TJ hard, even while he was hopping on one leg, so that he fell down hard into the ground. TJ winced and let out an 'Omph!' as he fell down. Then Spinelli, possibly deciding that TJ could turn nearly anything she said back around at her, choose to remain basically silent as she headed in the complete opposite direction from where TJ was. To TJ's annoyance that meant directly over to a glaring and gloomy looking Skeens.

Spinelli barely spared her husband a second glance as she roughly tugged Skeen's wrist and the two of them made a break for more bad areas of the playground. Still, TJ couldn't frown for long considering how events were unfolding in his favor lately. He let out a wicked grin as he considered what his next move should be in order to get Spinelli permanently back into his group.

That afternoon TJ walked into his house deep in thought, still contemplating what to do next and trying to figure out if it would be better to involve the group in the next set of actions or if he should take care of the return of Spinelli on his own, since even though his friends were awesome and loyal, two of them would probably accidentally cause Spinelli to run further away. Although, apparently that was his job lately, since TJ knew that Spin was not altogether happy about their playground matrimony. Still, it was a means to an end in TJ's tactical mind.

He walked into the kitchen, prepared to get a juice box and head upstairs to finish his homework, and then have more time, space, and materials to map out a plan, when he heard his mom yelling,

"NEXT TIME I ASK YOU TO FIX A CABINET TRY DOING IT BEFORE IT COLLAPSES ON ME DUE TO RUSTY HINGES! REALLY, YOU ACT AS IF YOU'RE OVERWORKED EVERYTIME I ASK YOU TO FIX ANYTHING IN THIS HOUSE, BUT YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM OVERBURDENING ME WITH COOKING AND CLEANING AROUND THIS PLACE! FIX IT BEFORE I RETURN FROM THE SUPERMARKET, OR SO HELP ME NO ONE WILL HAVE DINNER HERE FOR A WEEK!" With that she slammed the door leaving a nervous/confused TJ and a sighing Mr. Detweiler.

TJ watched as his Dad shook his head, before getting a toolbox and bringing it back. As TJ slowly and pretend-inconspicuously pulled out a juice box, his dad began to fix the cabinet by unscrewing all of the hinges to the one that fell off. TJ watched fascinated before venturing to ask,

"Dad?"

His father continued his work as he asked,

"Hm?"

"Your marriage is basically good right?"

Mr. Detweiler's eyebrows rose for a second as he looked over at his son and nodded,

"Yeah, it's just fine TJ, why do you ask?"

TJ stood firmly on one leg as he wiggled the other around in front of him nervously,

"Just wondering if it's normal for your wife to yell at you and make you do things all of the time."

Mr. Detweiler chuckled at the observation as he took a short break to get up, walk over and clap his son on the back. He and his son had always been alike in their love of practical jokes and such, so he judged wrong in thinking that his son was just teasing him. So he did what any grown man with a penchant for pranks would do, he replied,

"Of course TJ, didn't you know that Marriage kills?"

TJ's eyes went wide as he looked up at his Dad, nearly dropping his juice as he did,

"Really?"

Mr. Detweiler nodded sagely as he chuckled a little,

"Why yes of course, every time a couple gets married, a man dies. It's only a matter of time before the wife crushes him."

TJ's jaw dropped at this confession, before he quickly stammered out,

"B-b-but then why would any guy get married if that's how it works?"

Mr. Detweiler feigned considering this before saying,

"Because it's a hell of a ride down, and because men will generally make fools and martyrs of themselves when it comes to women. It's just nature. But you don't have anything to worry about yet, your decades away from marriage I'll bet right sport?" he asked before ruffling his son's hair and getting back to work while saying, "Now I'd better get back to work before your mother get's home and decides tonight is _the_ night. Although I wouldn't worry about it too much son, I haven't outlived my usefulness yet."

TJ forgot all about his juice box as he ended up throwing it into the air and forgetting to close the refrigerator door, as he ran out of the kitchen and headed straight up to his room making a dive for his phone and speed dialing Vince right away, before Vince had so much as said 'Hello' TJ had launched into a practically hyperventilating form of speech,

"VINCE!MY-DAD-SAID-THAT-WHEN-YOU'RE-MARRIED-YOUR-WIFE-KILLS-YOU-AT-HER-OWN-DISCRETION-BY-CRUSHING-YOU-AND-WE-BOTH-KNOW-HOW-STRONG-SPINELLI-IS-AND-I-THINK-SHE-MIGHT-HAVE-ALREADY-BEGUN-THE-PROCESS-SO-I-THINK-I'M-GOING-TO-DIE-YOUNG-DO-YOU-THINK-THERE-IS-ANY-WAY-OUT-OF-IT?" TJ asked, practically screaming as he attempted to get air circulating back into his lungs.

There was a long pause on the other end before a female voice said,

"I believe you are looking for Vincent, hold on a moment."

TJ stared at the phone anxiously as Vince actually got on the phone with a,

"Hello, Gus are you there?"

TJ shook his head as if Vince could see him before saying,

"No Vince it's me TJ! I have something to-"

"TJ? Really? That's funny my mom said that one of my friends was panicking on the phone, I could have sworn it would have been Gus…we'll anyway-"

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS VINCE I HAVE TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED!" And so TJ launched into his previous statement, "MY-DAD-SAID-THAT-WHEN-YOU'RE-MARRIED-YOUR-WIFE-KILLS-YOU-AT-HER-OWN-DISCRETION-BY-CRUSHING-YOU-AND-WE-BOTH-KNOW-HOW-STRONG-SPINELLI-IS-AND-I-THINK-SHE-MIGHT-HAVE-ALREADY-BEGUN-THE-PROCESS-SO-I-THINK-I'M-GOING-TO-DIE-YOUNG-DO-YOU-THINK-THERE-IS-ANY-WAY-OUT-OF-IT?"

"Woah, woah, woah. Let me get this straight. Your dad said that when you're married your wife kills you at their own discretion by crushing you? And apparently we both know how strong Spinelli is, so you think that she might have already begun the process so you think you are going to do young, and you want to know if I think there is a way out of it?" Vince translated aloud and TJ shook his head emphatically.

"Yes, yes! Vin I need help, he said they crush their husbands. Spinelli has very big, combat boots! They are perfect for crushing people!"

"Hold on a second TJ." Vin asked as he signaled his dad, "Hey Dad, does marriage kill?"

Mr. LaSalle nodded as he read his newspaper at the table and waved his coffee in the air distractedly,

"That is the old saying."

Vince frowned not looking convinced, but never-the-less speaking truthfully of his own father's answer into the phone,

"Tough luck TJ my dad says that it does too, and apparently it's an old saying. But hey, you aren't really married to Spinelli, so maybe the death will be fake too." Vince said trying to cheer TJ up, as his mother smacked his father in the back of the head and commented,

"Don't tell our children horrible things like that."

Mr. LaSalle, who hadn't really been paying attention much to who he had been speaking to at the time, put down his paper and rubbed the back of his head, before clearing his throat and saying,

"You're mother is right I was out of line. Although that is a saying somewhere married life has been very good to me."

Mrs. LaSalle smiled as she went back to cooking,

"Lucky you've said so hon, now maybe I'll let you eat." She commented with a hum, winking at him mischievously as he grinned back at her. Then noticing that his son was watching, Mr. LaSalle cleared his throat, made a point about reopening his paper, and launched back into his reading. Mainly in the Sports Section.

Vince shook his head as he said,

"Did you hear that TJ? There doesn't seem to be much to worry about. If it is true, it seems to be a case by case basis."

Or so Vince tried to say but TJ was too busy rambling to hear it,

"-AND THEN SHE KNOCKED THE KIDS TWO FRONT TEETH OUT! HONESTLY I SAW THEM FLY OUT OF HIS MOUTH WITH MY OWN TWO EYES! I BET OUR MARRIAGE WILL BE THE SHORTEST ONE IN THE HISTORY OF THE ENTIRE WORLD BECAUSE AS SOON AS HER MOM FILLS HER IN ON THE RULES, SPINELLI IS GOING TO KILL ME!"

"TJ? TJ? Teej? DETWEILER SNAP OUT OF IT!" Vince said after having tried to civilly get his attention for a few minutes now.

"-AND I DON'T HONESTLY KNOW IF I CAN TAKE HER IN A FIGHT, I MEAN STRONGER MEN THEN I HAVE TRIED AND FAILED, EPICALLY-" TJ continued to ramble until Vince sighed from the other end.

"Look TJ I'm sure no one is currently trying to kill you. You know how your dad is, it's probably one of his corny dad jokes that you are just taking to seriously is all. If you want we can talk about this tomorrow in person since I don't really know if you are even hearing me or listening to me right now. Why don't you relax and we'll talk things over in the morning alright?"

"Alright." TJ echoed not having much of a choice in the matter after all.

"Kay then, see you tomorrow." Vince finished before shaking his head and hanging up.

For a few minutes TJ just sat on his bed with the phone still held in his hand, until his mom came upstairs and asked,

"TJ dear is there anything in particular you'd like for dinner?"

TJ shook his head repeated as he said,

"Anything you'd like mom, just please don't kill Dad!"

Mrs. Detweiler looked at her son suspiciously, before slowly analyzing the statement and figuring out who the culprit might be,

"Why would I want to kill your father?"

"Because you married him," TJ blurted out, "and because marriage is a killer!"

"That first part does seem like an awfully convincing reasoning right about now. But honey don't worry I won't really kill your father anytime soon," Mrs. Detweiler said as her eyes narrowed and she headed towards the kitchen, before mumbling, "though I can't say that I won't bruise him a little."

The next thing TJ heard was a thud, a clang, and then his mother's roar of,

"WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN TELLING OUR SON?"

TJ couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, but his mother's yell had been enough to send him scurrying under the covers, convinced that even if wives weren't technically supposed to, or allowed to kill their husbands, they could certainly make their lives hell for a little while either way. TJ just hoped that Spinelli would never find out about this power that wives seemed to have over their husbands, but considering it was Spinelli he was talking about, she probably would use the power without even knowing about it. TJ frowned and then sighed, he supposed that if marriage was a killer, then with a wife like Spinelli at least it would be a quick death.


	27. Chapter 27: Spinelli's Revenge

**Author's Note**_**: **_**Another Update Yay! Lol I don't know why it takes me so long to write these chapters, but I appreciate your continued readership. I hope that you guys like this chapter, because I tried to stay as in character with this unlikely situation, as I could. **

**While I was writing this chapter I came up with an idea for a possible next recess story, but I have to know if anyone here would be interested in it if I do it. Basically I wanted to know if anyone would be interested in a story I write about Vince. I noticed that there weren't many stories about him and it surprised me since he's such a good character. Although granted he does kind of seem like a sidekick to a degree. Normally I write TJ and Spinelli, and I imagine that they would certainly come up in the story, but does anyone out there really want a Vince Story? Or do you think that I should just take a break from Recess after this story until I happen upon a new TJSpin focused idea? Let me know, and now please enjoy!**

_**Chapter 27: Spinelli's Revenge**_

Spinelli had spent most of her day threatening, hurting, and growling at people who were referring to her as TJ's Wife. Her reputation had to be taking a huge dive, she figured, for kids to actually dare smirk at her and mess with her. She pressed her face against her hands wondering just how horrible of a thing she was going to have to do in order to overshadow this major blow to her reputation and pride.

The word wife, was one that she hadn't really paid much attention to until recently, but now it seemed worse then even the slimiest, grittiest word that any kid or adult could ever say. It was like a label of ownership and Spinelli didn't like it one bit. The Ashley's may have been jealous about her being the first bride, wishing that someone might call them a cute boy's wife, but Spinelli was not one of them.

And the thing that really drove Spinelli to the edge was that Teej, her TJ, seemed to be having a grand old time lording it up. Husband apparently was not as bad of a word as wife it seemed. Even though kissing and doing any mushy stuff was supposed to be a one way ticket to solitude and a crime against reputation, for some reason, it was okay for TJ because he was married. Sure some kids had tried to tease him a little in the beginning, but that had given up only a few minutes in! Spinelli had actually caught some of the Fifth and Sixth Grade boys rubbing elbows and snickering about something as they chatted with him. It was unbelievable and once again Spinelli was ticked off to realize that TJ always seemed to have everything go easier on him!

Well Spinelli wasn't going to sit around and take this lying down! And that is why Ashley Spinelli let go of her pillow and stood up before pacing around her room. She had enough of boys trying to tell her what to do today! First it had been TJ with his marriage nonsense, and then when she had managed to be free of that boy she had spent the remainder of her recess trying to convince Skeens that she hadn't abandoned his group even though the ruling had been bad. It was enough to drive a girl crazy! Recess was supposed to be the one time in the day where anyone, be they good, bad, or normal, could just do whatever they wanted for a short amount of time! It was only one period of the day a kid looked forward too! How dare anyone, be they king or commoner, think they could take that away from Ashley 'Whomping' Spinelli! Or Girl Who Runs/Talks With Fists For That Matter!

"Well fine then!" Spinelli said picking up her Math book from the dresser it sat on and throwing it harshly at the wall, where two pictures had been re-hung just a day ago, "Let's see how you two like it when I'm pulling the strings!"

Flo, who had just moved to enter with some snacks for her daughter when she heard the sound of something being thrown, just sighed before walking into her daughter's room and clearing a space so that she could put down the little peanut-butter and jelly finger sandwiches and small pitcher of lemonade that she had brought. Spinelli tried to ignore her mom, but was a bit hungry so she sat down on the bed. Still, not wanting to loose her track of thought she stared at the carpet going over her plan until her mom sat down next to her on the bed and worriedly said,

"Is everything alright Pookie? You seem a bit…tense lately and your father and I have been a bit worried. Is there anything that we can perhaps help you with?"

"That all depends…do you know any assassins or impalers?" Spinelli asked, only half-joking as her mom's eyes became slightly bigger and she laughed awkwardly.

"Why no honey what makes you think that?"

Spinelli shook her head, once again convinced that all parents were just odd, or possibly aliens, abducted every time a new baby was born. It was clear that hers couldn't do much in this situation,

"It was a joke mom, I didn't really think you'd know any. It's just been a bit crazy in school lately is all. Nothing for you to worry about," she commented before mumbling to herself, "but _they_ should worry, those evil boys, oh yes _they_ should."

Then Spinelli let out an evil sounding cackle before Flo shook her head, muttered something about hormones and headed for the door,

"Well if you do need me or your father remember that we are here for you," her mother said preparing to close the door, but at the last minute sticking her head back in enough to say, "and I think you should try to get more rest dear, the rings around your eyes lately have been rather pronounced and talking to yourself may be a sign of exhaustion or lunacy. Enjoy your snack, we'll be having dinner at 8 tonight. Tootles." With that Mrs. Spinelli blew her daughter a kiss and closed the door.

Spinelli didn't bother to explain to her mother that the supposed 'rings' around her eyes were probably more from wearing eyeliner due to her punk look. But she did figure her mother had a point since she had been losing sleep lately because of idiotic boys. Speaking of those boys, Spinelli let out another mischievous cackle as she was reminded of her big plan. Since she didn't have a decent enough reputation currently, she didn't mind so much that normally this would have affected it. Once her plan was through she'd simply have to do something so over the top that it would wipe out every kid in the playgrounds memory of this entire incident. Or she could always claim temporary insanity due to the pressures of marriage.

That last part might also work to get her out of the marriage if she brought it to court after a little bit of time. Yes, it would all work out. And hey, if in the end she couldn't reclaim her reputation and single status, there were always other schools she could go to. And so Spinelli spent the rest of the night developing her plan. Though actually it was more building up her courage and practicing, then anything else. The King of the Playground knew it was probably going to be as hard on Spinelli, as it was going to be on the boys she was seeking to torment. But if Spinelli had anything it was guts. She just hoped by the end of tomorrow she didn't spew them everywhere and ruin the plot.

Ashley Spinelli had spent an entire night in restless anticipation of today, the day when her revenge would be before her. She had ended up cackling for so long that she had nearly lost her voice and had to make tea with honey in the middle of the night in preparation for this day. Her plot was a simple one that caused her to feel the anticipation of it, though the more time ticked away the more nervous she began to feel about actually going through with it. It was after all a risky plan, reputationally speaking, and Spinelli had once loved her reputation above all else.

Even now that it was spiraling downward fast she still couldn't quite believe that she was going to perhaps be engraving the tombstone of her own reputation. It was somewhat sickening, but Spinelli had ultimately come to the conclusion that since her rep was so far gone from where she wanted to be, and had been a few days ago, she would accept this fact, but someone was going down with her. At least one person anyway, though Spinelli's true plans were for two people to pay. That was the goal and it was so close to the beginning of the school day that she could practically taste the sweet coppery taste of revenge.

Spinelli was giddy with revenge, though truthfully that might have been from one too many nights with missing hours of sleep. Nevertheless, the rebel girl in question had to fight down evil chuckles as she hid in the corner of a group of lockers and some third grade classroom waiting for her prey to make his way to his locker. She was a very stick-like and petite person, but you'd be quickly beaten if you mentioned such things to the spirited girl, still, even she would admit that being small came in handy sometimes, especially if you had muscles as backup.

Honestly, if it weren't for the enormous boots that once belonged to Joey strapped to her feet, even after her rebel makeover, Spinelli would be even more lethal. Those boots had saved many a kid from a bruise or a broken bone. But generally Spinelli was not one to over think things, often preferring action over logic, so she never noticed the impediment. Of course, the method that she was about to use was a bit of both action and logic, and truly not her favorite choice, but when in doubt Spinelli knew that you had to fight muscle with muscle, or fire with fire, as her parents referred to it.

So Spinelli was going to fight marriage with affection. Awkward, annoying, completely underhanded affection. Yes, though, Spinelli would have certainly liked to find a better tactic and though she had the oddest feeling that this method was going to bite her in the you-know-where, she had decided that it was the best and most horrifying way to deal with the situation. And truly the prey deserved it.

Speaking of which, the first of her prey had arrived. Spinelli watched as a panther does before it strikes, TJ looked slightly nervous for some reason and she wondered if it was because as the prey he could sense something about to happen to him. She decided to ignore this however, since no matter how nervous a rabbit was, or how hard it ran, a dangerous predator more than likely took it down anyway. On that note, Spinelli waited until TJ had gotten his book out and was distracted by closing his locker door until she sprang up at him, as if out of nowhere.

TJ's eyes widened dramatically and he jumped about three feet in the air when he saw her, Spinelli noticed his eyes were filled with a very gratifying emotion, fear. Her mouth moved instantly into a smirk as she moved towards him like a jungle cat. She began to half circle him and he responded as typical prey, backing himself against his locker, and thus trapping himself without realizing it right away.

Spinelli's smirk was filled with self-satisfaction, maybe this plan wasn't going to be as horrible of one as she initially thought. She slammed her hand hard against the locker over his shoulder. It was somewhat hard to feel as if she was intimidating him in this position since she was a good few inches shorter than him, but she managed it somehow. She made sure to be inches from his face, severely intruding on his personal space, purposely popping his comfort bubble. She stayed like this for a few seconds enjoying watching and practically feeling him squirm, before dropping her voice to take on the husky tone that she had heard in countless "romantic" movies that her mother had watched as she simply said,

"Hello there Teej." She prolonged his nickname hoping it would make him panic.

Her wishes were soon granted as TJ kept trying to inch away from her. Spinelli wondered if it had always been this easy to make TJ squirm. It was somewhat gratifying due to his normal, brave-guy behavior. At least with TJ it seemed you have to work to find flaws. Though it could have been due to something else, since he had seemed a bit fearful even from the beginning. Spinelli wasn't about to let it worry her right now.

"S-S-Sp-p-p-p-in?" TJ stuttered, half questioning, as if he wasn't sure that it was really Spinelli in front of him.

Spinelli would have scowled, but she was too happy about the fact that her devious plot for revenge was working so far.

"That's me my little…" Spinelli scanned her mind for fru fru, lovey dovey names, but the most romantic thing she could think of was, "monster truck of fluff."

Well, clearly this affectionate thing was going to take more time then she thought.

TJ stared at her, his face beginning to turn from fear to a confused frown. Because he could not imagine how one would answer being called a 'little monster truck of fluff' he decided to repeat what she said in the hopes that she would attempt to explain it.

"Little monster truck of fluff?" he repeated.

"Yeah isn't it c…c…cu…cue?" Spinelli fumbled, her mind refusing to say the dreaded word that really would have helped her plan for revenge, but was turning out to be rather hard to get out, not that she didn't try, "cue-tip. Cue-action. Cold-tea. Coo-tie."

TJ looked somewhat more amused at this, loosing some of the look of fear in his eyes as he asked,

"Are you trying to say the word 'cute'?"

Spinelli glared at him, ready to punch him for even attempting to spread that kind of crazy rumor, that is for the few seconds that she had forgotten her plan due to anger, and realized that she actually had been trying to say that word. Seeing as she had messed up and TJ was quickly becoming his old self, therefore not being nervous, which went against what Spinelli nodded. She had to get him back to freaking out quickly.

"I wasn't, but it's nice of you to notice that about me, curly. Such a housefly you are, hmm?" Spinelli wasn't sure what she was even talking about anymore, but she hoped that somehow it ended up confusing TJ just as much.

TJ's brows furrowed as Spinelli hit his chest as lightly as she could make it, which was still a bit of a hit. He couldn't figure out if she was speaking in code or not, either way he just wasn't getting her at the moment.

As TJ was looking unconvinced about whether he should be nervous of, or for, Spinelli, Spin was finding herself getting annoyed that her revenge seemed to have been short lived, so she decided to change things up. She moved her arm and body away from him, since he was getting too comfortable with her there physically, which made her uncomfortable. Still, she was going to have to figure out away to make him more uncomfortable then just getting in his face. She wracked her brain for a solution before deciding that she was going to have to get out of her own comfort zone more if she was going to try to affect his.

Having come to this conclusion, Spinelli could tell that she was fumbling. If she kept this up, soon TJ would get over his new fear of her and be under the suspicion that she was the same as always, which was a particular picture that Spinelli did not want TJ to have in his mind. She wracked her brain from something that would freak him out and save her from this fate when suddenly she remembered a phrase that one of the wives from some soup-opera, or soap-opera, or whatever it was that her mother kept on trying to tell her about, that had particularly disturbed her, and she decided to use it,

"You know TJ you look so…nourishing that I could just eat you up."

Apparently, her mother's show must have involved cannibalism. Spinelli didn't quite get it, but as disturbing as it was, she figured it did sound both gross and intimidating, though apparently older boys seemed to like when girls said it. Or at least Biff from the show had. And all in all it had its desired affect, because as soon as Spinelli had said it, TJ had let out a high-pitched noise that had surprised her, and then raced down the hallway like Randal with a message for Finster. Spinelli couldn't help but smile, although things had not happened exactly how she expected it to, she had to admit that as far as the revenge aspect, she had certainly gotten her foot in the door, and TJ's out of it.


	28. Chapter 28: Black Widow

**Author's Note**_**: **_Look at that this update didn't take a month yay! Lol That being said I am going on a short trip to Salem so I won't have internet there as far as I know and I probably won't have a lot of time to write. So I might be able to get one up before I leave or I might not, it all depends on time and muse. Having said that I would like the thank my readers and especially my reviewers, truly you keep this story going. ^^ And a special thanks to JACK5T3R, who answered my query about a possible future story next time.

If anyone else is interested in a story about Vince next time please let me know, otherwise it might take a bit to think up a new idea for Recess that I can stick to writing after this epically long Fanfic. ^^ Well hope you enjoy ~ Here it 'tis.

_**Chapter 28: Black Widow**_

TJ had never been as scared for his life as he was right now. Directly after Spinelli had gone crazy and threatened to eat him he had bolted to go find Vince. Half-skidding through the open classroom door, TJ spotted his friend grabbed him by the wrist and ran directly into the boys' bathroom, quickly closing the door behind them, directly in the face of Cryer Kid, and quickly locked it before checking the stalls. When he found no one there he looked back up at Vince wild-eyed, grabbed his friend-green Jersey and began to shake him,

"I can't do this Vince I'm just not ready to die yet! I'm only Eleven and junk, I have at least six or seven years before I die!"

Vince attempted to pry himself from TJ's strong yet shaky grasp, one eyebrow quirked as he asked,

"What are you talking about Teej? Is this still about that crazy marriage kills conversation? Because that doesn't make any sense, how could all of our group's parents still be alive, dads and moms if that was the case?"

TJ shook his head wildly,

"I don't know Vince, but Science is amazing now-a-days and they could have been clones…maybe so that they could be killed more than once! I don't know Vince, but either way Spin is trying to kill me, and apparently eat me!"

Vince folded his arms and leaned against the sink,

"TJ have you been eating the playdoh again? I thought that you quit that in first grade."

"I did quit that in the first grade Vin! But I'm telling you she mentioned me being a fly on something and something about me tasting good!"

"A fly?" Vince questioned thoughtfully before pausing, "that is a little weird but maybe its supposed to be like a nickname or something, my dad sometimes calls my mom 'pudding pop,' marriage just makes people strange."

"Maybe Vince, but would you take the chance?"

Vince raised his eyebrow then sighed,

"Alright let's say she is threatening you as if you were a bug or animal or something, even then you should be fine. It's not like Spinelli is a creature that eats other bugs, if anything she's a lioness. Do you know what that makes you as her husband? A lion. How many lions do you know that our killed by lionesses?"

TJ blinked,

"Vince, I don't know any lions they live in zoos and junk."

"Exactly, so you've never seen one of them be killed by a lioness, despite the fact that lionesses are the huntresses who are stronger than the men, and do you know why that is?"

"…the lionesses don't see the point in killing such weak opponents?"

"No-"

"They need babysitters for their babies?"

"You mean their cubs? No, in fact leaving the male's alone with the cubs is probably a bad idea-"

"The lionesses need servants to take care of other, less important things?"

"No! It's because the male lions know how to handle them." Vince said feeling somewhat exasperated by his friends far-fetched ideas.

"Handle them?"

"Yes, the male lions have adapted themselves in order to live. So don't you see TJ, all you need to do is figure out how to deal with Spinelli and deflect her anger and everything will be fine. Besides either way I doubt that she'd actually kill you and to be honest though you do have some meat on your bones I highly doubt that she'd want to eat you. Besides the fact that I've never seen Spinelli attempting to eat someone- and before you say it- no, biting doesn't count."

"Of course biting counts Vince that's how cannibalism starts." TJ whispered conspiratorially.

"Stop making it sound like you know all of the characteristics of a cannibal when you've never seen one before."

"I might have seen one before…if Spin is a cannibal."

Vince folded his arms in front of him as he gave up trying to talk sense into TJ alone,

"I think you need advice that can't be found in the boy's bathroom. I say we find Gretchen in case this is simply a girl code thing that we can't decipher."

TJ nodded numbly, his face whiter than usual as Vince half-dragged him back to class, where Ms. Grotke and the others were preparing for a Science Experiment. Spinelli had ducked out for Science, so TJ felt slightly safer as the two approached Gretchen.

Gretchen turned and looked at them puzzled as she said,

"What is it TJ? It looks as if you've been experimented on, near electrocution I might have hypothesized."

TJ looked horrified,

"Execution?"

"She said electrocution TJ, seriously calm down. Anyway Gretch, TJ needs to know if Spinelli is trying to kill him. Apparently his dad said that marriage kills, which I don't believe because all of us have living, married parents, but TJ said that Spinelli was also calling him a fly and threatening to eat him since he looks tasty or something, he needs to know what you think of this."

TJ nodded,

"Yeah what Vince said."

Gretchen paused as she opened up her Science book, and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for,

"Well it's not that marriage itself kills, in and of itself, many married people are not murdered by their spouses, but some are. The interesting thing about Spinelli calling you a fly and mentioning eating you is that the Latrodectus, is a genus of spider that eats the male after mating."

"What does a spider have to do with TJ's situation?" Vince asked exasperated.

"The Latrodectuis also has a more common name…The Black Widow Spider."

"And?"

"A black widow is also often used to classify female serial killers who murder a succession of husbands or boyfriends."

"Female serial Killers?" Vince asked, now slightly alarmed.

"Murder their HUSBANDS?" TJ practically yelled, drawing the attention of the rest of the class, which caused Gretchen and Vince to shush him, until the rest of the class went back to their own conversations. Then they let him go,

"Do you think Spinelli knows about that?"

"I can't imagine why she'd be calling you a fly and saying she'd eat you. Did you know that's literally what the Black Widow Spider does? She turns around after mating and bites his head off, before slowly devouring him. It's actually very practical and certainly fascinating." Gretchen explained, fully in scientific mode.

"Gretch, you are really not helping right now." Vince pressed as he emptied the contents of his brown lunch bag into his backpack before handing the bag to TJ and telling him to breathe deeply into it to stop the hyperventilation.

"Well I was just answering the question that you posed, still, I don't think at her current level of supposed "bad" that she could kill a former friend that easily, even when a forced marriage is involved." Gretchen commented 'helpfully.'

"So if she gets worse there in a couple of years she could become a serial killer." TJ questioned.

"Theoretically, yes," Gretchen began, "well generally those who start violent behavior at a very young age are more susceptible to criminal acts in the future. Some have tendency to become desensitized to violence and therefore the rate for violent, and therefore homicidal actions is increased exponentially the more out of control they are as children." Gretchen explained lighting up at the fact that people were actually interested in hearing about such a fascinating phenomena brought about by psychological influences.

Meanwhile, TJ had turned an interesting shade of blue,

"Really, really not helping." Vince deadpanned at Gretchen as he felt TJ reverting back his panicked state, which somehow involved shaking Vince by his jersey.

"We have to save me Vince, I mean her, I mean me from herself…her from herself. We have to stop Spin from becoming a murderer, specifically of me!"

"While I do agree that we have to get Spinelli back and help her to be a good girl again, I still don't think that Spinelli would be able to be a cold-hearted murderer. Now or in the future. Still, better safe than sorry." Vince said, prying TJ's fingers from his shirt before looking back at Gretchen, "I expect you to calm TJ down since you got him going, we'll talk about better tactics for getting Spinelli to come back once classes are over and TJ is at least somewhat back to his old self. I really don't want to become the plan guy around here. Oh and f.y.i. if Ms. Grotke doesn't assign us specific partners, you will be partnering with this panicked version of my best friend." Vince commented before walking across the room to his own work station, well away from those two.

Gretchen turned to look at TJ who was still freaking out about something, and sighed as she looked away from him and towards her beakers and Bunsen burner,

"Something tells me that I might not have thought this conversation through as properly as I've prepared for this experiment," But after a slight sigh and a pause to think she let it go, "oh well, I guess documenting your psychological state due to the stress of this situation could prove to be fascinating."

And with that Gretchen began a case study on her friend, who was quite distressed, but then again who isn't distressed when science is involved?


	29. Chapter 29: Skeen's on the Side

_**Author's Note**_: You must have the luck of the Irish today, because I'm actually posting another Chapter. I hope that you enjoy it . Please Read and Review lol, particularly because it keeps me writing. Everyone have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Until next time I post, here is a blessing from The Land of Eire, "May your heart be warm and happy, With the lilt of Irish laughter. Every day in every way, forever and ever after." Erin go Bragh!

_**Chapter 29: Skeen's on the Side**_

Skeens was by no means happy about the marriage ruling. At first he had sulked and believed that TJ had won, by underhanded methods, for all the other boy pretended to be a goody goody. When Spinelli had tried to explain to him that forcing her into a relationship was more working against TJ, than for him, Skeens hadn't exactly bought it. But he had to say that since then Spinelli had been a whirlwind of emotions. Skeens had watched and initially needed Spinelli's reassurances, but now he was starting to think that maybe Spinelli being married wasn't as big of a deal as he was making it.

In fact, his change of opinion on the matter happened as he had watched Spinelli, animalistic and domineering, as she dealt with her husband TJ. She looked like the predator that Skeens always knew lurked below the outer shell of Spinelli. His hands had quickly found his sketchbook and utensils, he sat down Indian style in the middle of the hall and began to draw. He drew Spinelli as a black panther, as he imagined she would have been if she was an animal. It was as if he could see it through her. The bright flashing eyes, in contrast to dark features of her hair, clothes, and shoes. She even seemed to move like a cat, trapping her prey against the lockers. Skeens was hypnotized as he worked. His fingers being dirtied with each rub of charcoal on the page.

As he worked on his art the reality of what was going on and how he could spin it to his advantage nearly smacked him in the face. It was an epiphany in the darkness. Skeens had forgotten one crucial thing: he was a bad boy. It didn't matter if Spinelli was married, because bad boys were made to break the rules. In fact, it might be better this way, now when he dealt with Spinelli it was more risky and forbidden. Besides that watching Spinelli interact with TJ, and frighten him with her intense personality, was exciting. Maybe it would be fun to sneak around with her or flaunt their friendship out in the open, causing TJ further humiliation.

Skeens didn't care about Do-gooders. While he couldn't say he hated TJ exactly, he still found him as boring as toast. Following the rules was for sheep, boring and dumb sheep, Skeens was a wolf. In this world you are either predator or prey, and Skeens was nobody's lunch.

With this new way of looking at things in mind, Skeens finished up his artwork, then leaned against the lockers waiting for the two to be done. He could have gone over, but it would have been counterproductive. Spinelli was already doing a very good job of scaring TJ, and Skeens was no fool. While TJ might be nervous around Spinelli in private, he'd never have given Skeens the satisfaction of seeing it had he been aware of the guys presence. Skeens didn't want to ruin the sight of Spinelli's beautiful overpowering display, so he waited and soon he got his wish as TJ ran off like a coward, or a particularly smart piece of prey, and that's when he slowly sauntered up to a somewhat triumphant looking Spinelli as she snickered to herself.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself." Skeens said as Spinelli quickly whirled around, annoyed at not having sensed him coming.

But once she recognized the voice she let go of the tension in her shoulders, but she also gave him the cold-shoulder while she was at it,

"Stuff it in your pie-hole Skeens, I don't want to hear you whine anymore about this stupid and fake marriage stuff. It effects me way more than it does you and is causing severe damage to my rep. If you want some sucker to pat you on the back and listen to you move your gob, go talk to your mother."

She glared at him hard and it sent a pleasant shiver through Skeens mind. Yes, marriage to TJ, had been a good thing indeed,

"I'm not upset about that anymore Spin," Skeens said testing the waters with the nickname again, when she seemed too riled up to notice what he called her he continued, "it's not your fault and I guess it's not all that bad of a thing. You make one hell of a WILTHW."

Spinelli frowned annoyed that he wasn't getting to the point and was prolonging this stupid conversation with some form of code she didn't understand,

"I make one heck of a what?" she questioned, more like screamed at him.

Just because she had acted cool before didn't mean that she wasn't still frustrated, it was just that Skeens was harder to scare off then TJ, when it came to her moods.

"A WILTHW- Wife I'd like to hang with, it's a cool new abbreviation on the streets."

"The streets of the playground you mean. Don't be a punk Skeens, if you've got something to say stop acting like a sneak and say it. I don't have the time or patience for this, ever." Spinelli pressed, banging her fist against a locker and denting it, before speeding up so that Skeens would have to keep pace with her if he wanted to talk.

Spinelli may not have known much about the boy, but she did know that he spent so much time trying to act like a cool artist, that his walk was really slow by nature. He must have made an exception however, because he matched her stride, possibly aided by his longer legs, and decided to get more to the point,

"I don't care that you are considered married, I'm not going to treat you any differently. We are still going to hang like we did before and I dare anyone to try to stop us." He proclaimed causing Spinelli to stop mid-step. Her boot slammed down hard on the ground as Spinelli stopped, since force was the only way she could figure how to catch herself mid-step.

"What's with the sudden change of mind?" She asked suspiciously, her eyes piercing Skeens heart in more ways than one.

Skeens looked down at his hand, still covered in charcoal and smirked,

"I guess it's just because I've changed my perspective. I've decided that it's not as big of a deal as I was making it. In fact, I think green might be a good color on me."

Spinelli frowned. She really didn't get Skeens and actually, though she was still going back and forth on the good or bad debate, she had to say that she didn't know or trust Skeens nearly as much as she did TJ. But that was neither here nor there. She also didn't really get Skeens, and sometimes she wondered if he was crazy. But so far Skeens always did something that seemed cool after he did something crazy. Maybe that was just part of the whole being an artist thing.

"I don't know what green has to do with anything, but whatever. As long as you ain't ticking me off I don't care what you think."

Skeens smirk was still in place though this time he moved in front of Spinelli and looked her straight into her eyes,

"By the way, nice flirting there Spinelli."

Spinelli's face turned bright red and she shoved him hard at the sudden accusation. Though quite honestly that had been what she was doing it. She could not believe that Skeens would, or could be so forward about her evil plan. Her face was burning as she yelled,

"Shut up! I didn't do nothin' like that!"

Even though she knew she was lying, Spinelli couldn't help it. Even the word flirting sounded dirty to her. She had skidded around the fact that she had to use such a disgusting and dirty tactic, but Skeens just had to throw it in her face.

"Don't be so shy Spinelli," Skeens said starting to circle her and making Spinelli's eyes flash, "it was a very cute first attempt."

"What the heck did you just say about me?" Spinelli said dangerously, shoving him hard against the wall before fisting her hand in the front of his shirt and shaking him in anger.

Skeens head hit the wall and he smirked arching his neck, here it was the anger that he wanted her to unleash, but even though he enjoyed her anger he could not rile her up too much, because that would send her straight back to TJ and his dogooders. Instead he decided to make her slightly uncomfortable instead.

"Never mind that, I just want to let you know that TJ's reaction to it was quite boyish and cowardly. If you said those thing to me I'd enjoy it." He looked down at her, playfully watching her eyes go wide and fear fill them.

As much as Skeens loved to see her strong, powerful, and angry, he also enjoyed the fact that he could instill any type of fear in such a powerful woman. He reached out, ghosting his thumb across the top of her hand, as she pulled it away from him as if he'd scalded her. She retreated backward, eyes darting around, either for an exit or to make sure no one had seen it, Skeens didn't know which, but it did amuse him.

"You're acting crazy, I don't want to be around you right now." Spinelli said, hardening her look in nervousness that he'd seen her fear before. Spinelli couldn't have anyone knowing any of her weaknesses, particularly a bad boy.

"That's alright Spinelli, I am a very patient man. Next time you want me or need me, you know where to find me." Skeens said pushing himself away from with wall with his hands back in his pockets and his cool lean back on.

He looked confident and not at all as if he'd just been spurned or insulted. Spinelli just couldn't understand him, which was she demonstrated without knowing it by shaking her head 'no' without really noticing it.

"Fat chance." She said grappling for something to say and to still be on top of this conversation that she felt somehow she was losing without being able to figure out how.

Skeens nodded and started to walk away only pausing long enough to look over his shoulder at a confused and somewhat frantic looking Spinelli,

"Oh but before I forget to mention it, I will be enjoying sneaking around with you. See you soon my Queen of the Rebels." Then for added dramatic effect he blew her a kiss, which comically she attempted to dodge, before he headed out, leaving Spinelli running around trying to avoid Skeen's weird kiss.

When she was satisfied that the kiss was not a heat seeking missile, she sat down on the ground, trying to catch her breath. She curled her legs towards her and rested her arms on them as she shook her head. It was the first time that she had ever thought of someone as being dangerous, and definitely a moment where she wondered if being bad was worth the discomfort of such actions. Skeens was a predator in his own rite, and Spinelli did not appreciate being considered any body's prey.


	30. Chapter 30: Conspiracy Factor

_**Chapter 30: Conspiracy Factor**_

While Skeens was busy working on his 'masterpiece', the young rebel had all but forgotten his old crew. A slight that did not go unnoticed by said crew, who had way too much time on their hands now that Spinelli was the hot ticket, and anyone who knew how bad kids worked, knew that bad kids without things to occupy there time and mind, only got worse. Although the group was used to their leader going off on his own for a recess or two in order to focus on his art, they were not use to being completely ignored, specifically because of another person. Besides that since Spinelli had turned bad people had forgotten just how bad the other kids in the rebel group were.

In fact, just the other Recess Mundy had been asked to play hopscotch by a couple of second grade girls. He couldn't stand for that to continue. Mundy had decided then that it was time to call in all of the group with their head on straight to make a plan to end the bad career of one Ashley Spinelli and bring down the queen. Which is why the group found themselves huddled together behind the trashcans to the side of the basketball court, locked in an important and conspiratorial meeting.

"You all know why I invited you here today don't you?" Mundy began as Kurst nodded eyes hard and smashed her fist into her opposite hand,

"Yeah I know and it's about time. I've been waiting to get back at that little twerp for making me look like a fool."

Sue Bob looked around suspiciously bouncing around as usual on a sugar high and not looking like she'd be getting down from it anytime soon as she said suspiciously,

"I get why we are here, but are you sure you weren't followed. I want to get rid of the new member as much as anyone else, but she ain't no joke. I bet ya she could crack a jaw or two if she wanted. We need to be smart about this you hear?"

Lazy Kid yawned and turned over,

"Don't know and don't care. Must sleep."

Mundy ignored the last bit as he nodded,

"We're fine here I'm sure. Classes are on so no one is on the court and Skeens is busy following that chick like he's her pet dog. The traitor. We need to get rid of that Spinelli girl quick, particularly before she gets worse."

"We can't get rid of her alone." Sue Bob pressed nervously, twitching as her hands shook, taking out some pixie sticks, popped open the bag and downed one in one go.

Mundy nodded,

"That's true, she is too big time for us, but you know what? I have some connections with bigger and badder people, and even though she's too big for us, plenty of people are too big for her right now. My brother has some high school friends that have to be able to take her down somehow. We just have to lure her in, maybe we'll tell her it's a gang orientation, or it's the next level in bad that she needs in order to cement her position. Whatever we tell her, we have to lure her to them where they will take care of our problem for us. Once she's beaten badly enough she'll go running back to her do-gooder friends with tears in her eyes. Then Skeens won't see her with rose colored glasses anymore and we can go back to how it used to be."

The others nodded, except Lazy Boy since it was too much of an effort, as Kurst put in,

"I want a piece of her when this goes down, I still haven't paid her back for what she did to me on her first day as bad. Maybe I'll add a kick too for good measure. Whatever the case we have to do this fast, how soon can you get this extra help of yours?"

Mundy shrugged,

"As soon as possible, we are dealing with a number of factors and the fact that I have to go through someone instead of speaking to them directly isn't going to be much of a help, plus these are High Schoolers so they are going to want to do it on their own terms and times. Still, I'd say factoring in the boredom of teens, it should be no longer than a week. I'll keep you guys filled in as I find out, kay?"

Lazy Kid let out a frustrated noise as he half growled, annoyed by the prospect,

"It sounds like a lot of work to me, why don't we just leave her alone. You know if this doesn't work it's only going to be a bother and you are going to get yourselves killed." Lazy Kid insisted as he rolled over.

"Yeah, yeah we all know the consequences Lazy." Mundy said with a scowl, waving them away with a flick of his hand.

"And it's worth the crushing of that arrogant twig." Kurst insisted, crushing a soda can that she'd been drinking in her fist menacingly.

"Speak for yourselves, if consequences come I'm hauling my patootie out of there faster than you can scream run, that Spinelli is no joke. I'll do all of the sneaky, underhanded things, but when it comes to direct confrontation, it certainly won't be me with my neck to the chopper, nuh-uh, I'm bad, not stupid." The girl commented, shaking with a sugar overdose as she pulled out an ice tea and downed the drink as fast as she could manage.

Mundy nodded, having factored in all of the personalities of the group when he had thought of this plan, and knowing that it would come to this. For rebels his friends were fairly predictable. He rubbed his hands together,

"Well since we are all in agreement…" he started but was interrupted by Lazy Boy saying,

"No we aren't."

Mundy narrowed his eyes,

"Since we are MOSTLY in agreement and the last member is too lazy, if not too loyal, to snitch, I'll go ahead with the plan. In the meantime everyone attempt to lay low. For the time being, it would be best for people to forget us and underestimate us, besides they will change their tune when we manage to pull this nefarious plot off."

Mundy smirked and rubbed his hands together as the group departed, except for Lazy Kid, who had fallen asleep, and himself since he hadn't budged. Soon Spinelli would be out of there hair for good, and having beaten her somehow Mundy's name would be synonymous with victory.

The best part of it all was that he knew that no one would suspect a thing, not even Skeens and definitely not Spinelli. Little did he know that he had erred in believing that he had been alone with his group for the plot. He had been arrogant enough in his intelligence that he hadn't thoroughly searched the area that they'd spoken in. If he had he might have saved his words for a better time and place, and he might have noticed the cloaked figure that escaped through the shadows to deal with the situation in the best and only way, the shadowed boy knew how.


	31. Chapter 31: Vince Gets Serious

**Author's Note**: I have no idea why it takes so long to do these Recess Chapters. Honestly it's not for lack of trying, but my muse escapes me most of the time. As per usual I will finish this story, but it is slow going. My recess muse is very finicky and if I'm lucky I get a paragraph or two done a week. Wish my muse luck and don't forget to review positively, it's the only way to feed the muse besides watching Recess, and quite frankly it pushes me more. As usual thanks for reading and reviewing, and Happy Father's Day!

_**Chapter 31: Vince Gets Serious**_

Vince was busy doing what he normally did when the group was not together and that was practicing. Currently, he was working on his Basketball skills since Basketball was the easiest sport to practice alone. Basketball was a fairly therapeutic sport, and for Vince it was a good way to open up his mind and focus on problems. It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this story, that Vince was using this time to think through the Spinelli situation.

Honestly speaking though, Vince was probably less concerned than most of the others, about Spinelli's walk on the wildside. This was not because he cared about her less, but that he believed that he understood her current problem best. Vince was one of the few members of TJ's Gang, who had been through a time when he questioned who he really was. Actually he'd been through that kind of self-doubt a couple of times. Once he thought that because his brother was a geek, that made him one, another time he had gone through a time when he thought he'd never play a sport well again. You get the picture, but the point is, he got over those things, and Spinelli would get over this phase, he was sure, since she had gotten over one or two situations herself.

In fact, Vince's current concern was not how to get Spinelli back to the side of good, since he was sure that she'd do that on her own, instead his concern was how to keep TJ sane while Spinelli got through her issue. TJ had quickly lost the majority of his cool when Spinelli turned "bad" and Vince had to deal with his fair share of extra panicked calls from his best friend.

Without Spinelli around for TJ to hangout with and do whatever it is they did, Vince had ended up picking up the slack. It was not that he minded some extra time with TJ, in fact, normally it would be fun to get in a day or two of hangouts, or some guy time, but truth was, every day that he had to spend hours on the phone or in person, calming TJ down, was a day less that he was training for sports. Vince was terrified that if Spinelli's episode lasted too long than he'd get rusty and not be the best at sports around the playground. Defeat was not something that Vince could take lightly. Which is why he needed to come up with a plan, just in case.

He supposed that he could try to get TJ into a hobby or something, to get his mind off things, but something told Vince that it wouldn't be quite that easy. Spinelli was practically TJ's hobby, besides planning pranks and plots. Vince wasn't quite sure what it was with those two, but he had some ideas that would probably be received badly if he expressed them to Spinelli or TJ. Still, it was the only thing he could think of considering the situation. Those two had been bad enough together when the group was still intact, now with TJ claiming to be Spin's husband and his Spinelli-obsessed behaviors, it was nearly impossible to deny that at least TJ must have had some less-than-friendly feelings for Spin.

Vince had mixed feelings about that arrangement. On the one hand, if TJ and Spin ever did end up dating, it would be easy on the group to accept, as they would likely not behave much different. Though Vince couldn't really see Spinelli giving in to anyone, he figured TJ's sly and teasing nature might counteract her unyielding personality. But even though a part of him was rooting for them, he also couldn't help but recognize that if things didn't work out between them, as very few elementary school relationships did, it would definitely affect the group dynamic, and could possibly split up the group. Though at this rate it wasn't much of a gamble on that end at the moment, all things considered.

As Vince was thinking these things over, Francis the "Hustler Kid" was making his rounds around the playground considering which one of Detweiler's crew he was going to negotiate with in order to relay certain information about their rogue ex-member's current status, that he had conveniently acquired the day before while heading to restock his supplies. After a quick mental review of the kids in question, Hustler kid chose Vince LaSalle, since Vince was probably the most likely to speak the language of business with, and would probably give him the best deal. Plus Vince was the easiest member to track down, as one who always could be found on or in a sports related area.

With that in mind Francis checked the gym and the baseball court before finding him on the outside basketball court. He approached stealthily, but Vince paused and turned his head, clearly noticing the extra presence. Francis sauntered over as Vince dribbled the ball, turning to face Hustler Kid slightly curiously.

"What brings you to this part of the playground Hustler Kid?" he asked, slightly suspicious since Francis was a bit of a deviant character.

Hustler Kid adjusted his jacket and stood in a 'business stance' as he prepared for the upcoming barter. As much as he wanted to help out Detweiler and his crew, he was first and foremost a business man, so he would give nothing for free. But if Vince would pay a fair price, Francis would give him invaluable information.

"I have an opportunity for business at the moment and I was wondering what some fairly important information would be worth to you."

Vince listened closely, eyebrow raising as he surveyed Hustler Kid,

"Information concerning what?"

Francis paused considering how much information he should give for free. He knew he couldn't say anything or else there would be no sale. He needed just enough information to make it enticing. Just enough so that Vince would take the bait. Luckily this should not be a very difficult thing to accomplish considering the person in question.

"You mean concerning who. What if I told you it was about Spinelli?"

Vince considered the source and found that he did trust Hustler Kid, he was a bit of a sneak but when it came to information he was generally accurate. And the kid had helped them before, but Vince was not stupid, he needed more than Spinelli's name to take a bite or start a barter.

"If this is concerning the fact that she's supposedly 'gone bad' then it's kind of old news Hustler Kid, not that I don't appreciate the opportunity."

Hustler Kid shook his head, smirking slightly,

"I know what information is already out, since it's my business to know, but this is something less likely to be known than that. In fact, I can nearly guarantee that it's hot off the presses and only known by the bad side."

Vince frowned but was still not completely bought. It could be unimportant, and if that was the case he'd be pretty angry if he ended up making a bad deal, after all business and bartering was a competition too, and the one who got the best deal was the winner.

"I'd like to do business with you if you have important information, but I don't even know what to offer you considering I don't know the value of the information. I'm afraid I can't be much of a help in getting you a good deal if I don't know what it's concerning." Vince pressed hoping for just a little more information to work with, since currently Hustler Kid had all of the cards in his hands and he could barely see the pattern on the back.

"Fine, I will help you with your decision. Spinelli may be in some serious trouble, and only I know by who and how. I can't give you when or where for the deed, but I can give you why, what, and how. I can also let you in on when and where I heard it. Is it worth it to you now?"

That was enough to make Vince stop bouncing, the ball bounced of its own accord a couple of times before rolling across the outside court as Vince got serious. He needed to know this information. But that didn't mean that he was going to get taken for all he was worth.

"What's your starting offer?"

Hustler Kid clapped his hands together, prepared for his favorite part, wheeling and dealing,

"Generally I ask that first, but since you're clearly a boy of business I'll let it go. This information is fairly important for your group, so it's worth a bit. On the other hand, I do have a heart and I'd like to see your group stop this travesty, so I'm willing to make you a fair deal. Opening offer: Two Senior Fusion Comic books and a box of Winger Dinger bars."

"Winger Dinger bars are more my pal Mikey's thing. I can put up two senor fusion Comic books, but we are going to have to talk something else than Winger Dinger bars. I'm a sportsman, chocolate would not help me keep in shape."

"Hmm no chocolate huh? Well let's see, you are a fair sportsman, word around the jungle gym is that your most likely to be a professional sportsman. In that case I'm going to take a bit of a gamble here, and settle the rest of your tab with three photo's of you signed. If you make it big they'll be worth a fair amount."

Vince nodded,

"Alright, but in exchange for not haggling you down too much, you give me the info before you get your stuff. I get the feeling that it's something I'm going to need to know quickly in order to help."

"You tryin' to scam me?"

"I've never gone against my own word. I'm a man of my word Hustler Kid, take it or leave it. "

Hustler Kid searched his face and he found no tells of a liar, so he took a risk, nodded and agreed, if it all worked out he would be getting the better deal,

"You got yourself a deal." he put his hand out and shook with Vince.

Vince shook back,

"So what's the word?"

"Alright well I heard it straight from the horses mouth so it has to be true. Spinelli's new crew has some devious plans for her. They aren't happy with the attention that she's getting, from Skeens and the playground. They are plotting revenge while Skeens is busy running around after Spinelli. Word on this very court yesterday from the group in questions says they know some pretty shady characters, older kids with possible gang connections. They are supposed to make mince meat out of Spinelli as soon as they can manage it. Mundy, Kurst the Worst, and Sue Bob Murphy, the regular players. If I find out any other news concerning this matter I'll bring it to you, but that's all I have for now. The bad group plans to beat up Spinelli soon, by any means necessary, as soon as the resources and people are available."

Vince stood very still, his eyes narrowing. This was grave news and something he was going to have to deal with quickly. Before this Vince had only worried a little bit about the Spinelli goes bad thing, mostly because Spinelli was prone to moods and phases. But while Vince knew he could trust Spinelli, clearly he could not trust the people that she had gotten herself associated with.

"I appreciate the information. I'll get you your pay tomorrow either first thing at my locker or first thing during recess, just keep a lookout for me." Vince said shaking hands once again at the near closure of the deal.

"You know I will, see you then Vince, sorry about the bad news." Hustler said disappearing into the shadows once again.

The situation was bad, nearly adult dangerous, and so Vince decided that it was high time to stop playing nicely and letting it go, and for him to start doing something.

Vince wanted and needed to get serious. So that is just what he planned to do. After he paid Hustler Kid for the information that was. Whatever the case, the next time Vince saw Skeens he was going to have a serious chat with him, Vince-style.


	32. Chapter 32: When TJ Plans Fail

_**Chapter 32: When TJ Plans Fail**_

Too many things were happening around the playground for TJ's liking, but in his current state he had decided that he couldn't do a thing about them, and this was a sad fact considering he didn't yet know the most dangerous part of the situation. Having his last plan, seemingly fail miserably, and causing him to go into hiding inside the cheese box at the playground in case Spinelli was about trying to kill and eat him.

Interestingly enough, being in the cheese box reminded TJ a little of jail, though of course jail would have less light and he would not have been able to come and go inside such a place as he wanted. Nevertheless it reminded him of Spinelli's brother Joey. Folding his arms across his legs he wondered if Joey ever felt trapped like this. Probably not, considering how easy it seemed to be for Joey at least to come and go as he pleased.

Well maybe not super easy, as despite his seemingly relaxed actions, he had been in a rush and had seemed more tense then he had in the past, being a laid back guy even before he was in jail.

TJ wondered if how Spinelli was acting now was similar to how Joey acted when he was her age. TJ himself couldn't remember much of Joey except his scheming his ways and his love of trouble. Spinelli didn't scheme or love trouble, at least not by nature as far as he had seen. But she did have a temper. A scary temper that reminded him of storms and natural disasters that he'd seen on T on one of those educational channels or whatever that parents make you watch from time to time. Especially now all he could think of was her rage and possible willingness to destroy everything in her path. At least that's what he started thinking of, steaming from his concerns about his own death.

But after a little time of real thought TJ couldn't help but to remember some of the better things about Spinelli that he had seen of her during the better times. Like the time she had saved Finster's cat during the Dirt Clod war to end Dirt Clod wars. She had stubbornly and bravely stood on that stand, ready to allow kids to believe she was a rock throwing cheater and give her a swirly, rather than admit she'd done something as nice or cute as saving a kitty from a tree. Then there was the time that she had used her mechanical skills, handed down by her brother, to save a bus from being jumped on a field trip that had ended way differently than expected, she'd jumped right in then and helped. And perhaps the most telling time, was the time that she'd put her reputation on the line to help Mikey, by embarrassingly dancing with him in a ballet. Of course she had done it her own way, but nevertheless it had been a big gamble that she had come through for her friend with.

TJ had to say there was no one quite like Spinelli. She was so interesting and intriguing. Able to do what guys do, most of the time better than guys could, and yet to TJ at least she was still all girl. Because TJ had been thinking about Spinelli's countless good qualities, it allowed him to open up his mind more than he had to what she might be feeling. Alone in the cheese box, with the noises of the playground outside, hidden in light and shadow, in a small space, he decided to try to think like Spinelli.

He found himself rethinking the day that they had told her she was acting badly. They'd done it before of course, so he had to add that as well. He switched himself with Spinelli for a better effect of understanding, and noted that he wouldn't have been to happy with her if she had been so know-it-all and better-than-you about it. Even though a kid couldn't go around attacking another kid, a friend should handle a situation like that better, especially if they already knew that you had a temper.

TJ had never had it explained to him exactly how Skeens had gotten involved, so he had to just make up a scenario. While storming away angrily, Skeens probably got into a conversation with her and made her feel not so bad about her feelings. TJ knew it would be nice if someone understood him, or tried to anyway. It was easy then to see how Spinelli could have strayed. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who needed to make apologies.

TJ opened his eyes to find himself once again in the cheese box. Now that he recognized at least part of the problem, he might be able to find a way to get through to Spinelli. He really should have thought about this earlier. After all the best way to know a kid is to walk a junglegym in his or her shoes, and although Spinelli's boots were too big to fill, TJ was going to try to keep them on for as long as it took to get her back. Skeens or no Skeens, Murder or Cannibalism, Spinelli was not a friend that TJ could give up. She was more to him than the word 'Whomps,' Señor Fusion, and even Recess. And anyone who is worth more than that to a kid, is a keeper. So TJ decided that the next chance he got, he was going to have a heart to heart with Spinelli, and tell her all this. The only thing to do when a TJ plan fails, is to stop planning and start speaking from the heart. He just hoped that would be enough, to bring Spinelli back.


End file.
